Why African Americans are hesitant to take the COVID 19 vaccine

From a historical context, African Americans have faced adverse circumstances as it relates to vaccine administration and acceptance. Much of this reluctance stems from past transgressions on the community which have caused an over apprehensiveness towards vaccines. Aspects such as racial injustice, a lack of trust within white healthcare systems, lack of proper African-American representation, and overall social media perspectives have all contributed to the decline in African American adoption rates.

To begin, the reluctance of African Americans hesitation towards taking the COVID-19 vaccine stems partially from a economic perspective. Historically, African-Americans have not participating in the American healthcare system to the same extent as other races. This is partially attributable to lower incomes, education, and wealth. This compounds on itself as African-Americans don’t utilize healthcare programs as much and are therefore less likely to participant in vaccination programs.

Currently healthcare costs account for roughly 18% of the gross domestica product of the United States. Nearly 1 out of every 5 dollars is being spent on healthcare related costs in the United States. This percentage has increased every year for the past decade as more baby boomers retire and demand healthcare services. The number of insured has increased dramatically since the passing of the Affordable Care Act as nearly 2.8 million African-Americans are insured. However, the uninsured rate of African-Americans is still 10% which nearly double of the next demographic. In addition to the high uninsured rates, research has shown those African-Americans that are uninsured cite that costs are the overall reason. For African Americans, the average annual cost for health care premiums is almost 20 percent of the average household income—a major cost to bear, when taking into account income inequality and other economic challenges for this demographic (Tuckson, 2020).

As such, African-Americans are simply not participating in the healthcare system overall due to costs which has an adverse effect on adoption rates for African-Americans

Low African-American participation rates ensure that African-Americans often don’t see the benefits of using the healthcare system overall. By not using the healthcare system themselves, many are subject to the opinion of others which are typically garners through social media websites and other channels which have high levels of misinformation. As many are uninsured, and others simply neglect treatment due to costs, these individuals form opinions about healthcare not from their own experience. As a result, media perceptions can dictate adoption rates as these individuals rely on partial information to make their vaccination decisions (Carney, 2021).

Next, economic considerations are also a reason for the general lack of adoption rates among African-American communities. Although the vaccine is free, many African-American are hesitant to use it practically for economic reasons. Historically, African-American have been subject to policies that overwhelming favorable the white population over the well-being of the African-American community. These policies were heavily centered around education and economic progress and where designed to limit it for African-Americans. It is well documented that slavery sough to limit the ability of African-Americans to read so that they would be extremely limited in their ability to survive of the plantation. This policy was designed to create a culture of dependency between the slave and the master. The prevailing notion at the time was if the slave was able to garner an education, they would look for their freedom and thus congregate with one another to overthrow the master. By limiting the slave’s ability to read, they limit their ability to educate themselves and progress through life. This forms the general basis for African-American distrust of certain policies administered by the government overall. Here, the belief is that African-American were not necessarily thought about in the vaccination process, and as a result will have adverse consequences for them as compared to the white community. Although a strong argument can be made against this thought process, the history of policies geared to benefit white Americans at the expense of African-American is long and difficult to overcome (Salomon, 2020).

In addition to slavery and the policies that benefited white Americans at the expense of African-Americans, the overall community continued to be subject to harmful practices. Once slaves were family free from bondage, they had a difficult time matriculating back into society. One was a lack of education due to the policies discussed above and the other is racism, which ironically still persists to this day. From an economic perspective it was difficult for African-Americans to progress through life with little to no education. Eventually however, African-Americans began to establish their own businesses, healthcare businesses and education institutions (Arnett, 2021). By 1920, African-American has established competitive healthcare facilities that provided services specifically for the black community. These facilities were on part with their white counterparts and were funded specifically by the African-American community. This self-sustaining community was known as Black Wall Street, and was looked to as an example that could be replicated around the country. Last summer marked the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, a tragic event perpetrated on Black Wall Street, which has been described as “the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.” Essentially, the event was systematic massacre and destruction of the wealthiest African American community in the United States at the time. Here, two days of riots from the white community resulting in the death of nearly 300 African Americans and the destruction of 35 square blocks of predominantly black neighborhoods and businesses. This single event has caused a severe distrust in a policy aimed at helping black communities, including the vaccine. Here, history has shown even when African Americans attempted to play by American rules, it was still harmed with little to no recourse. Many believe the vaccine could potentially harm the black community with again little to no recourse. As it relates to the vaccine, many believe that their health could be compromised in the same way black businesses were nearly 100 years ago. Unfortunately, the racism that underpins the massacre of 1920 is till prevalent today (Safo, 2020).

So far, we have discussed African American economic, and healthcare considerations as it relates to the vaccine adoption rates. Next, we will discuss systemic racism and social media as it relates to vaccines adoption rates. As discussed, the massacre of 1920 significantly harmed the psych and overall trust in policies and procedures of white America. As we continue, the next 40 years contributed further to the overall distrust. During the civil rights era, a massive wave of racial policies was implemented that further harmed the African American community further contributing to the overall distrust related to the vaccine. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarcerations were all polices from the 1950’s to the 1990’s that significantly harmed the progress of African Americans. Here, “separate but equal” was not applicable. African American schools and business were often lower quality than their white counterparts. Those businesses and schools that did exceed expectations where systematically destroyed similar in the fashion of the 1920 Tulsa massacre described above. Here, these polices were simply a matter of, “Heads – White America wins, Tails – Black America Losses.” The segregation of schools, businesses, and other essential services ultimately lowered the ability to African Americans to progress. They had lack of resources and rules were put in place, similar to slavery, to ensure that the resources they could obtain were very limited (Ferdinand, 2021).

Next, mass incarceration and the war on drugs cast further doubt in the minds of African Americans related to vaccination policies in the United States. Here, president Nixon engage in a war on drugs which saw massive number of African Americans incarcerated for minor offenses. Aspects such as minimum mandatory sentencing saw high rates of African Americans jailed for offenses that were either minor or a first offense. By keeping African Americans in jail for extended periods of time, they lost the ability to gain skills that would make them competitive in the jobs. Once out, those who attempted to correct their ways found they either couldn’t get hired due to their prior record or their skills had become obsolete. Many were left with lower prospects.

Finally, after the war on drugs had subsided, the 2000’s ushered police brutality into the mainstream Here, again African-Americans began to distrust policies in America, which have thus contributed to their distrust in the vaccine. Here, police officers would target, profile, harm, and even kill African Americans with little to no repercussions. This culminated in the killing of George Floyd where a white police officer kneeled on George Floyds neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds until his death. This was done in broad daylight, in a street, with three other police officers present. This created a national and worldwide outrage that has steadily gained momentum to this day.