Task Force of Black Scientists in Toronto Hosting 1st Town Hall Meeting to Address Vaccine Hesitation

To achieve that, we need to undo the multi-generational damage and mistrust that medicine has caused to the black community.

Kenty believes his team is uniquely ready to tackle the challenge.

“Black experts, especially black scientists, can speak of it as fellow victims,” ​​said Kenty, chair of the Task Force on Black Scientists on Toronto’s Vaccine Fairness. ..

“We were there too.”

Task Force Hosting 5 Town Hall Meetings

On Saturday, the Task Force will host the first of five virtual town hall meetings aimed at combating false information and reducing the level of vaccine evasion in the Toronto Black Community.

Distrust of black medical professionals in general, especially vaccines, is rooted in historic events, such as the Tuskegee Syme poisoning experiment, in which a black man in Alabama unknowingly underwent an unethical medical experiment by a white doctor.Researchers, activists and patients Anti-Black Discrimination in Canada’s Healthcare System.

As a result, according to experts, black residents are considered to be one of the groups most likely to resist vaccination. According to Toronto Public Health, black residents from Africa and the Caribbean have the highest incidence of COVID-19 and the highest levels of vaccine repellent.

“Most of it has to do with past behavior and a loss of trust based on past bad experiences … it has to do with what I call a healthcare facility,” Mayor John Torrey said last week. Announced a focused strategy. Protects black residents from COVID-19.

The first Town Hall will discuss “historical and contemporary issues of reliability” regarding vaccines, and subsequent events will focus on topics ranging from vaccine mechanics to false information and conspiracy theories.

The task force of black scientists includes immunologists, family doctors, naturopaths, nurses, and mental health professionals.

You can register for a virtual town hall meeting On this page..

Confront rumors and false information

According to November Toronto Public Health Survey, 16% of residents say they will not be vaccinated against COVID-19, and another 11% are undecided.

The city has not yet collected race-based data on vaccine hesitarian, but Dr. Vinita Dubay, Toronto’s Deputy Health Officer, said in an email that the city “will soon do more research on this important area. I plan to do it. “

Kenty, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla School of Public Health, said he encountered a surprising number of black residents who said they had no plans to vaccinate.

Public health experts have also expressed concern among the swirling conspiracy theories on social media related to vaccines and their development, especially among the visible minority communities.

Among black residents, Kenty is particularly concerned about rumors that the vaccine can alter the recipient’s DNA and infect small amounts of the new coronavirus and HIV.

Kenty said that fighting distrust and false information requires trust and empathy, not just a barrage of facts and science.

“It points it out in a respectful and legitimate way, without threatening or saying,’I’m crazy about thinking about my thoughts,'” Kenti said.

The task force relies on the use of culturally appropriate metaphors, expressions, and recognition of the historical experience of various groups.

Khenti said these efforts can vary widely from person to person or community. For example, people who are hesitant about East African vaccines need a different message than people in the Caribbean.

For other stories about the experience of black Canadians, from anti-black racism to success stories within the black community, make sure you’re a black Canadian, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of. .. You can read more stories here..