Editorial: Vax, the leader in the COVID example, is unwavering in the black community

After months of waiting, the effective COVID-19 vaccine has finally arrived. Brave healthcare professionals who have been at the forefront of this pandemic from the beginning can continue the important task of saving lives without losing their lives. As the rollout continues, Questions are starting to arise The entire political and scientific community about strategy.

The proposed solution has serious weaknesses. To persuade the color community to get the vaccine when it becomes available.

For nearly 45 years, I was a reporter and anchor for WUSA9 TV, a CBS station in Washington, DC. Much of that time was spent on the streets to interact with the black and brown working poor and people in the poor community. Now I’m following the news of the new vaccine and how it’s being communicated to people in the same area, or more accurately, being misrepresented.

Distrust of the current state of health care is deeply rooted in these communities. Raise your chair at the famous Benz Chili Bowl or start a conversation at the Black Lives Matter march and you’ll hear suspicions surrounding the government and the facility.

Concerns about the medical community are real, with a long line of atrocities such as the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment, deception related to Henrietta Lacks cancer cell research, and systematic racial inequality in medicine that still exists today. Not a little based.

African Americans are lying repeatedly. Listing the facts about vaccines does not foster trust in communities that have an disproportionate share of social illness. Many months ago, at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, the community felt unaware of the full picture of why the virus is affecting black and brown people disproportionately. Don’t forget that.

It wasn’t just because of the existing medical condition (as first explained by the doctor). That’s because blacks and browns make up the majority of front-line workers in grocery stores and hospitals, often living in crowded homes and apartments. As a result, these groups cannot be completely isolated from their loved ones, and often receive worse medical care and higher case fatality after becoming ill.

Still, leaders appear confused as they beg the black and brown communities to take the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available. The list of people adopting the “believe in my words” approach is impressive. This includes President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Former President Barack Obama, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

This approach is intended, but you can’t get where you need it.

To correct this lack of trust, we need to face the anger and frustration that these black and brown communities are feeling head-on. I’ve repeatedly heard that the black community gets attention only when something goes wrong or when they need to vote. This time it has to be different, and the message is not just “I say so, so I need to get this vaccine.”

the first: We have to show that we care. Healthcare professionals, health educators, and community ambassadors need to be prepared to address the challenges experienced by these communities. It is not their responsibility to resolve all issues immediately, but they can show them where to apply for food, housing, work, social welfare, etc. I had such a list for decades while I was reporting. It helped me establish trust-the kind of trust that is even needed to start the noisy conversations surrounding vaccines.

The second: When thinking about who drives the message, it is necessary to understand who are the real influential people in these communities and what influences them. I have seen first-hand that it is women, mothers and grandmothers, who have the power to change families, blocks, and even the entire neighborhood. We need to find a meaningful way to reach them and establish trust.

Third: When contacting these influential people, we must apologize for the past indifference shown to them and explain that we are determined not to leave anyone behind.

These strategies are just the beginning. Centuries of distrust have taken root among those most in need of relief from this pandemic. But looking to the future, authenticity and ground-level involvement must be the starting point. You can’t easily tell people what you think you need to hear to persuade them. You need to listen to the concerns of the community, understand their perspectives, speak to their fears, and create customized resources and messages to address them.

When thinking about how to start a conversation, we need to engage with the real people in these communities, not the leaders of the communities, the celebrities.

Bruce Johnson Is a retired 44-year broadcast journalist and is now 3D communication..