White Coats and Not-So-White Lies

In light of recent events regarding the world’s bitter one-year anniversary with the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems fitting to discuss why there is a vaccine hesitancy among BIPOC communities, and what can be done to decrease the hesitancy. 

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Sandra C. [SC] Quinn and Michele P. Andrasik’s New England Journal of Medicine article, “Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in BIPOC Communities—Toward Trustworthiness, Partnership, and Reciprocity,” discusses the various factors that contribute to the BIPOC community’s uneasiness when seeking medical attention. Quinn states that the issue is rooted in the “historical and contemporary contexts of systematic racism, marginalization, and neglect.” 

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A specific example is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a case where around 600 African American males with syphilis and some without were deprived of penicillin. At the time, penicillin was considered the best treatment option for syphilis, so why were the 400 men with syphilis not offered the vaccine? A Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) article provides a timeline of the study and states that the men initially participated in the study under the impression that they were “being treated for ‘bad blood’ ”; according to the article, “bad blood” was coined as an umbrella term for different ailments, one of them being syphilis. 

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As an incentive, the men were awarded “free medical exam, free meals, and burial insurance.” Syphilis researchers wished for information regarding the full extent of the health effects of syphilis, and because of this curiosity 400 infected African American males were forced to endure oral, anal, genital sores, rashes that can spread to all parts of the body, muscle aches, hair loss, swollen lymph nodes, and more. As a result of not receiving adequate treatment, a total of 187 individuals were affected—128 syphilis patients dead, 40 wives infected, and 19 children born with congenital syphilis (Equal Justice Initiative). 

The atrocities these victims had to go through for the sake of the Tuskegee study had not been revealed until the release of an Associated Press story that was published in 1972, prompting a formal review of the entire study. To compensate those affected, The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program (THBP) was established to provide medical care to the participants’ wives, widows, and children. In 1973, a year after the exposé, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Tuskegee study’s participants and their families. According to the CDC, the lawsuit concluded with a $10 million out-of-court settlement in 1974.

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It is studies and events like this involving the BIPOC community that promotes a lack of trust in the medical industry. BIPOC communities lack accessible clinics or general information regarding the medical industry that could provide insight into the importance of vaccine administration. Some steps that the general public can take to help improve the transparency of the health care institutions is to listen to community voices regarding their experiences with the medical industry, become more client-centered, and educate the communities’ surroundings. These methods can cultivate a gradual trust that can eradicate all hesitancies about the medical community. 

 

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Sources

Smith, Laurie. “Syphilis: Symptoms, Treatment, Is It Curable, and Diagnosis.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 4 Nov. 2019, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186656. 

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“Tuskegee Study - Timeline - CDC - NCHHSTP.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Apr. 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm. 

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“Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.” Equal Justice Initiative, 31 Oct. 2020, https://eji.org/news/history-racial-injustice-tuskegee-syphilis-experiment/. 

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Quinn, Sandra C., et al. “Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in BIPOC Communities - toward Trustworthiness, Partnership, and Reciprocity: Nejm.” New England Journal of Medicine, 28 Oct. 1970, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2103104. 

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