Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Communities of Color

By Abner Mason

Medically reviewed by Patricia Salber, MD, MBA

Vaccine hesitancy is common in communities of color-based, in part, on historical harms inflicted by health care that led to a lack of trust.

Graphic source: iStock

The numbers are sobering: In just over a year since the coronavirus first appeared in the United States, global deaths have exceeded 2.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins data, with the US death toll surpassing the grim milestone of 500,000 in late February. Vaccine rollout is picking up pace, with an increased number of doses available each week. Now, more than two million Americans receive a shot each day (1).

However, the progress made by Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, and now Johnson & Johnson in developing COVID vaccines and ramping up vaccination rollouts will be for naught if we can’t get at least 75 percent of Americans, roughly 240 million people, vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

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Summary

• COVID-19 deaths have topped 2.5 million globally, 500,000 plus in the US
• 75 percent of Americans need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity
• Mistrust, vaccine hesitancy in Black and…