Trusted messengers must preach COVID facts
MOBILE, ALA. >> Watching local TV news recently, I saw a father railing against the decision of public school officials here to require masks for children as they start the year in their classrooms. He was furious, vowing that he would remove his kids and teach them at home. Never mind that coastal Alabama has one of the highest rates of new COVID-19 cases in the country — a data point that isn’t surprising considering that the state also has one of the lowest vaccination rates. (COVID deaths have pushed some procrastinators to get their shots, but the overall vaccination rate has only barely ticked up.)
All along the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle, the delta variant is filling hospitals, and the patients are unlikely to be nursing home residents, who are largely vaccinated. Young adults and children are being stricken, and some have died.
Yet, the Trumpists who dominate politics and culture here have turned their backs on science and common sense, insisting that basic public health measures are an infringement on their rights. In a region that prides itself on its so-called Christianity, residents revolt against the requirement to wear a mask, a simple way to show love and concern for others. The Fox News fact-deniers — otherwise known as liars — have persuaded their rapt audience to believe that down is up.
It would be a mistake, though, to blame the resurgence of COVID here just on Trumpists and their absurd rejection of reality. There are many people in the region who never would have voted for Donald J. Trump but nevertheless refuse to follow the advice of medical experts to get the vaccine.
That skepticism among Black Southerners has been blamed on a mistrust of the medical establishment that follows centuries of documented mistreatment of Black patients. The infamous Tuskegee experiment — in which Black men were allowed to die of syphilis despite the availability of a treatment they were never told about — is among the more notorious examples.
But that explanation for the vaccine skepticism of many Black Americans is threadbare, unpersuasive. I have not heard of a case of a Black person who gets injured in a car accident or develops diabetes but refuses to go to a physician, even when the physician is likely to be white. Nor do I personally know a single Black parent — regardless of confidence in the medical establishment — who doesn’t get his or her children vaccinated against childhood diseases so they can attend school.
It is important to point out that some Black Southerners simply don’t have easy access to vaccines. Most Southern states, the majority of which are GOPdominated, have refused to expand Medicaid, leaving the working poor without health insurance. If you don’t have health insurance, you probably don’t have a relationship with a physician you trust. And you may live in a rural area with no medical center or pharmacy, which would mean a miles-long drive to get the shots (and possibly requiring two separate trips).
Happily, there are Black institutions that are stepping up to try to help. The Conference of National Black Churches has been encouraging its members to get the vaccine ever since it became widely available. The conference is also helping thousands of Black pastors get training about the vaccine so they can speak authoritatively to their congregations. That will help.