A Wall Street Journal report written by Jared S. Hopkins shares that "large percentages of Americans, including those at high risk of contracting the virus, are
Reluctant
Skeptical or
Opposed
To take the vaccine, according to surveys and researchers."
Per the Wall Street article, the primary cynicism about the vaccine causing Americans to pause has to do with "the quick development" of inoculation.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-is-a-growing-concern-for-researchers-health-officials-11598607002 https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-covid-19-vaccine-maker-in-talks-with-countries-on-early-approval-11598612401?mod=hp_lead_pos4&mod=article_inline
Here are the facts the vaccine wasn't born yesterday. Per commentary shared by Dr. Micheal Weiner, Chief Medical Officer of MAXIMUS Inc. newsletter titled "We've come so far, so fast, "clarifies that COVID 19 is directly related to SARS-CoV-2. (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus)
Per the WHO World Health Organization article, "SARS was first identified at the end of February 2003 during an outbreak that emerged in China and spread to 4 other countries. The ." https://www.who.int/health-topics/severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome
World Health Organization coordinated the international investigation with the assistance of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and worked closely with health authorities in affected countries to provide epidemiological, clinical and logistical support and to bring the outbreak under control
Hence, the development of an immunization, which looked like it happened in a year per Dr. Weiner, was achieved because studies and analysis conducted in "parallel" and progression of existing clinical research that goes back to investigations or groundwork started in 2003. Hence vaccine is not a fly-by-night immunization but a thoroughly processed treatment for COVID19 that technically took years in the making. https://www.walgreens.com/topic/promotion/covid-vaccine.jsp
COVID19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) is not a virus to be trivialized with. Per a Cleveland Clinic Report titled "African Americans Disproportionately Affected by COVID 19 shares that "In April, reports from Chicago (2019) stated that African Americans made up 72% of people dying from COVID-19 although they composed only a third of the population there. Similar stories came out of Louisiana, Michigan, and New York City." On the norm, the facts are that Black Americans' predispositions to chronic illnesses and biological factors afford Black Americans the lion's share of vulnerability to the menacing virus.
Another factor that provides African Americans with greater exposure to the virus has to do with housing. A large portion of Black Americans resides in apartments or public housing. This factor alone makes said target population more vulnerable to viruses because it is almost impossible to social distance from other residents. https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/african-americans-disproportionately-affected-by-covid-19/
Furthermore, African Americans lack culturally sensitive and relatable intermediaries to directly communicate with to inform Black communities and reach said population with straightforward facts about the accurate processing of vaccines and why it was essential to get the vaccine yesterday. (There's a few but not many.) The medical industry must understand that Black Americans remember how their enslaved ancestors were experimented on to craft the perfect surgical instrument. Unethical and ungodly rudiments were practiced on Black bodies in posterity's name through the 1800s to the 1960s as outlined in Wahington Post article titled "American Medicine was Built On the Backs of Slaves and Still Affects How Doctors Treat Patients Today." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/06/04/american-medicine-was-built-on-the-backs-of-slaves-and-it-still-affects-how-doctors-treat-patients-today/
(Above Roland Martin of Roland Martin Unfiltered & Below Lindsey Davis of ABC News)
Below: James Marion Sims was named the “father of modern gynecology" in 1876. He developed pioneering tools and surgical techniques related to women’s reproductive health that tortured and murdered enslaved Black women in the1800s.
Because of those and other atrocities made in America and across the world in other countries, we have a portion of people who are vulnerable to disease and are also afraid of the cure. But never fear Black America I have good news. Due to previous unethical practices and transactions, specific organizations and standards have been implemented to provide safety and efficacy in processing clinical trials and new drug development. These standards and organizations keep the medical industry in check.
Those standards, departments, and commissions are:
GCP - Good Clinical Practices was mandated as law due to one of the most extended unethical clinical trials in history performed on Black Americans. The Tuskegee Syphilis Trial originated the Kefauver Harris Drug Amendment of 1962.
Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) In 1964, the World Medical Association in Helsinki, Finland, announced the guidelines which became the basis of present ethical principles provided in ICH GCP.
ICH the International Conference on Harmonization of technical requirements for registration of pharmaceuticals for human use. ICH is the acceptable international guideline, resulting from harmonization between pharmaceutical companies and drug regulatory agencies of the U.S., E.U., and Japan.
FDA The Food and Drug Administration of the United States. This federally operated government department is responsible for regulating and approving drugs and diagnostics in the U.S.
Belmont Report published in 1978. The "Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Research.
OHRP The Office of Human Research Protection
Plus, the many IRBs Institutional Review Boards/Independent Ethics Committee conducts a continuing review of each ongoing trial at intervals appropriate to the degree and risk factors of clinical trials and new drug development.
Now that we know that vaccine is not a fly by night cure but has been technically in the works since the SARS pandemic of 2003. I hope you have a better perspective on the development of vaccine. Black lives do matter. And we deserve to be equally protected plus take advantage of medical resources that can improve our and our families' quality of life.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope the write-up information encourages you to do the right thing for you and your family and get inoculated to take the sting out of COVID 19. COVID19 is not your friend. With that being said, please enjoy the song "Bop Gun - (Endangered Species") by Parliament Funkadelic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNzIA1FZsyQ
(Pictured above famous fencer Jean Louis Michel & his instructor M. D’Erape. From L’Almanach Des Sports, 1899.
Peace.
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