So far, about 54 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, of which nearly 28 million have been fully vaccinated. In Callen-Lorde and other medical centers that treat many LGBTQ patients, health professionals say they have seen an increased demand for the vaccine among white patients compared to black patients.
Colored LGBT people are twice as likely as white non-LGBT people to test positive for Covid-19, according to a study by the Williams Institute published in February. Although blacks are at greater risk of contracting the disease, concerns about the vaccine are especially prevalent among this population, experts say. In a study published this month in the journal Vaccines, 1,350 trans men and women who identified themselves predominantly as gay or bisexual reported the likelihood of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. Black participants expressed significantly more hesitation at the vaccine than their white counterparts, the study found.
Health professionals are encountering the same resistance in their patients. “Some people just literally said, ‘Well, no – Trump was involved in making this vaccine work, so I’m not going to get the vaccine,'” said Jill Crank, a practicing nurse at Johns Hopkins Community Physicians in Baltimore.
Studies show that hesitation about the Covid vaccine occurs in all demographic groups, including those in the medical profession. About three in ten health professionals are hesitant to receive the vaccine, according to a survey published in December by the KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) compared to about a quarter of the general population.
Dezjorn Gauthier, 29, a black transsexual man who lives about 20 minutes from Milwaukee, said that while he is currently eligible to receive the vaccine, he does not want it.
“At the moment, it’s impossible,” said Gauthier, a model and businessman who has Covid-19 antibodies because he contracted the coronavirus last year. The development of the vaccine was “so fast and so fast that it made me a little hesitant,” he said, adding that he is also unsure about the ingredients of the vaccine. “There is a fear in the community.”
For members of the LGBTQ community, and especially people of color, the hesitation stems in part from pre-existing distrust in the medical establishment, experts said.