Vax takers make history
Three black Caribbean-rooted health professionals were front and center in New York last week, getting the first COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States — scoring a win-winwin by acknowledging the valiant efforts of frontline workers, combating vaccine hesitancy among too many Americans and combating bitter memories of historic medical offenses against Black people.
In the highly publicized event at Northwell Health system’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens last Monday, nurse Sandra Lindsay and Dr. Yves Duroseau received the first injections of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine developed in the U.S.
“I feel hopeful today. Relieved,” said Jamaica-born Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish, after the injection, reported The Associated Press. “I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history,” she said at the event, which was livestreamed by Gov. Cuomo’s office and seen across the nation and around the world.
Next up for the vaccine shot in the arm after Lindsay was Duroseau, who was born in Brooklyn and has roots in Haiti. He is the chairman of emergency medicine at Northwell-run Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
Adding to the Caribbean connection at this momentous occasion was Dr. Michelle Chester, Northwell Health’s director of employee health services, who hails from Georgetown, Guyana. She administered the pioneering Pfizer vaccine shots.
Chester said, “I help coordinate and execute the testing for our team members across the [Northwell Health] organization.”
While federal health officials confirm there were Black researchers working behind the scenes on the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine development, millions of viewers saw Lindsay and Duroseau, whose very public vaccinations sent powerful medical and social messages to all Americans and disproportionately affected communities of color, in particular.
A National Urban League report based on medical research revealed that COVID-19 infects Black Americans at almost three times the rate of white Americans.
Lindsay and Duroseau’s public vaccine may help ease the historic fears many Black Americans have due to past medical breaches — including the 1930s “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” and Johns Hopkins
University’s unauthorized use of a Black woman’s tissue samples to create an invaluable biomedical research tool.
Implicit racial bias in the American health care system is another factor reinforcing doubts within Black communities.
Affirming these impediments to Black health care, Northwell Health spokesman Matthew Libassi said it was a “happy accident” that Lindsay and Duroseau were selected, on a volunteer basis, to become the nation’s first COVID vaccine recipients.
“Sandra really leaned into it and so does Dr. [Duroseau] as well,” said Libassi of the Northwell staffers’ enthusiasm about taking the vaccine and their willingness to encourage others to get inoculated for COVID-19 when their turn comes.
“It can be difficult to convince certain communities to take the vaccine and rightfully so because of the history,” continued Libassi. “It’s important and they [Lindsay and Duroseau] totally get it. They want to get the message out.”
Fete for VP-elect Harris
America’s election of Kamala Harris — who will be the nation’s first Caribbean-American vice president — will be celebrated with a vibrant virtual international affair on Jan. 17 during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
Billed as the “Caribbean Inauguration” of Harris, the event features entertainers, organizations, dignitaries and others joining forces to mark the Election Day win by Joe Biden and Harris, and recognize Harris’ history-making victory.
Harris — who will be the the highest-ranking female elected official in America — has roots in the Caribbean and Asia. Her father was born in Jamaica and her mother came India.
The virtual livestreamed event will begin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 17 and can be seen on One Caribbean Television’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube platforms, in addition to Radio 102.9FM in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Jan. 17 “Caribbean inauguration” event precedes the official U.S. presidential inauguration and swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20 in Washington.
On the day of the inauguration, One Caribbean Television will air the “Caribbean Inauguration” on broadcast television throughout the Caribbean region.
The Invest Caribbean global investment agency, with the Caribbean American Action Network of Caribbean American and Caribbean organizations, is presenting the “live, virtual, Caribbean inauguration party under the theme: “Celebrating #CaribbeanAmericanKamala.”
There will be “Caribbean Inauguration updates on the Invest Caribbean website — investcaribbeannow.com — and the One Caribbean Television Facebook page at facebook.com/onecaribbeantelevision.