Black hospital faces vaccine mistrust from unlikely source
February 12, 2021 7:45AM AKST
FILE – In this Jan. 8, 2021, file photo, Kizzmekia Corbett, left, an immunologist with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Health, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, respond to questions after Jackson received his first COVID-19 vaccine at the Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago. Corbett, a Black U.S. government scientist who helped develop Moderna’s vaccine, acknowledges ”centuries of medical injustice” against Black Americans but said COVID-19 vaccines resulted from years of solid research. Trust in those vaccines, she said, is needed to save lives. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — In the heart of a Black neighborhood hard hit by COVID-19, a community hospital faces stiff resistance to vaccination from its own workers. Just 37% of the doctors, nurses and support staff at Roseland Community Hospital on Chicago’s South Side have been vaccinated even though as health care employees they’re first in line. The hold-outs include doctors, nurses, cafeteria workers and other support staff. Many cite vaccine myths and historical medical mistreatment of Black people. Some plan to wait until spring or summer — a risky choice, given high infection rates and emerging more contagious virus variants.
