But this meeting will be different. Since my last check-up, Johnson & Johnson has received emergency use authorization for its Covid single dose vaccine. As a thank you to those of us who participated in the phase three vaccine randomized trial, the company is revealing the participants and administering the vaccine to the placebo group.
I am looking forward to unraveling it with the same exuberance that I had when I was a child on Christmas week. All those present under the tree waiting to be opened! But this time, my gift is protection from a deadly virus – an inoculation that is literally saving lives.
My goal from day one was to help the nation overcome vaccine hesitation and encourage people – especially people of color – to trust vaccines. Since I took the test, my efforts have been highlighted on People.com and Essence magazine. Some friends told me that my participation encouraged them to get vaccinated. On social media, some people said they would consider trying it now. I consider all of these victories, but I know that some minds will be more difficult to change.
Jamecka Britton, a 35-year-old black woman who lives in Atlanta, is one of those people who hesitate to get the vaccine. Originally from Memphis, TN, she has a bright smile that says she is constantly hiding behind an N95 mask everywhere she goes. She also has a warm sense of humor. I know why we continue to send messages about the nation’s effort to vaccinate as many people as possible – one defending its position, the other contesting. Messages are often dotted with good-hearted GIFs. What makes her posture more remarkable for me is that she is also a nurse.
Britton, who has treated Covid-19 patients since the start of the pandemic, says the virus has reached all parts of his community.
“It’s been extremely, extremely difficult,” Britton told me. “When it started, I remember that I came home just crying.”
She told me about the myriad of people she knows who died of coronavirus – in addition to the patients she treated at the hospital. Their loss also impacted her.
“Seeing patients in their twenties with no pre-existing health problems,” she said, adding: “… they went into the hospital, thought they had a cold and the next day there was a respirator and the doctor basically said that there is nothing else that they can do. “
However, despite everything she has experienced because of Covid, she has not yet been vaccinated.
“I am not against vaccines,” Britton clarified immediately. “I just feel that more testing is needed with the vaccine to make sure it is safe.”
As I have already reported on the vaccine’s hesitation, I talked to many people of color about their fears and did some research to fully understand why this hesitation persists. On my morning walks, I listened to “Caste: The origins of our discontents”, by Isabel Wilkerson, and, from 2007, “Medical apartheid: The black history of medical experimentation in black Americans from colonial times to the present”, by Harriet A Washington.
From the Tuskegee experiment of decades when doctors suspended treatment for unconscious black men syphilis to the harvesting of a piece of a cancerous tumor from Henrietta Lacks in the 1950s – tissue that came to be known as HeLa cells that continued to being the focus of medical studies and discoveries for years – all without your knowledge, there are undoubtedly some high-profile examples of medical professionals using black Americans for experimentation without their consent.
However, as I talk to Britton and think about what I have gathered from my research, I realize that it is likely that a less sensational and more personal history of individual breaches of the doctor / patient contract may actually be the basis for the suspicion of the science behind these new ones. vaccines.
It is the myriad of surgeries, amputations and tests suffered case by case by blacks and other people of color that, in the final analysis, may have impaired a relative’s quality of life for doctors to study or perfect a technique before offering the skill improved or medicine for your white patients. Oral histories of medical irregularities and disrespect have been shared in many black families, leading to generations of fear and distrust.
“I actually talk about it with my family. And to be quite honest, we are all very, very hesitant to get the vaccine due to the history of malpractice and neglect in the African American community,” Britton shared, recognizing this reality in his own roots. “I have, you know, relatives who have expressed their concern for me about, testing and being, in quotes, lab rats like blacks for vaccines.”
“I think it would probably be shocking for you to know that I signed up for a vaccine test,” I told her, interested in how she would respond.
“Not serious?” she replied, genuinely surprised. “I am impressed. I am honestly impressed.”
I told her that I participated in the trial to help neutralize the fear – a fear that I understand and that needs to be recognized. “But I also know that this is a different time. And the only thing that happened in America that is good is that we have a lot of health professionals who look like you, who look like me, who look like our cousins, who are now at the forefront of the design and understanding of research and technology to make these vaccines “, I explained.
What I’m trying to find out, I tell Britton, is what could be done, if anything, to get people to get their vaccines.
“I have seen many of my colleagues who received the vaccine and that leads me to be vaccinated. However, I would still like to see a large number of African Americans receiving the vaccine,” explained Britton. “Many doctors of color that I know are not willing to receive the vaccine, which still makes me hesitant.”
“So, if you saw doctors all over the country and we had a lot of black doctors, would that help?” I asked.
“That would help,” she replied.
This is an angle that is being addressed by the Black Coalition Against Covid and the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is highlighting black scientists, doctors and nurses endorsing vaccines in a set of questions and answers with interviews and testimonials with comedians and presenters from CNN “United Shades of America “W. Kamau Bell.
“When the vaccine was applied, I felt a great honor,” said Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, in the video.
Of course, I sent the video to Nurse Britton – followed by a photo of one of my doctors, who happens to be a black woman, getting the vaccine.
The goal is to add more voices to the mix of people of color who are proudly letting the world know they’ve had their chance and encouraging others to do the same. The goal is to vaccinate more people so that we can live a long and healthy life and overcome this pandemic.
‘This is the big moment!’
As for me, while I wait to find out if I received the real vaccine or the placebo in December, I keep thinking about which category I think I fit into. The animals in the framed pictures on the wall – and ode to the name of Ark Clinical – look at me. I hope the rising tide of vaccinations will help us all.
“This is the big moment!” said Dr. Kenneth Kim, medical director and CEO of Ark Clinical Research, as he entered the room. None of us know my vaccination status yet. Nurse Amber Mottola hands him a sheet of paper. “Okay, so let’s look at this together,” said Dr. Kim to me. “So what do you say?”
“I got the placebo!” I read it aloud, Dr. Kim echoing the same words. I thought I had achieved the real thing.
Although I haven’t been vaccinated before, I was about to be. Mottola already had a needle ready.
My experience with testing the Covid vaccine was positive. I have to see up close how these trials work; I feel better informed to have conversations about vaccine hesitation and now I receive the gift of inoculation. “Anyway, today is a good day,” I tell them.
“Thank you for being a pioneer, because if it weren’t for people like you who volunteered, we would never have approved this vaccine,” said Dr. Kim in response before giving me the game plan. “We will schedule the time when we will administer your dose and after that there will be a 15 minute observation”.
“Okay! I’m still very excited,” I exclaimed, the smile on my face evident even with my mask on.
“You waited a long time for this, and you deserve it!” Mottola told me as he wiped a stain off my arm and slid the needle in. “One, two – full shot!”
“Oh, yes! That definitely looked different,” I said, noting that the vaccine felt heavier going into my arm than the placebo.
“Vaccinated!” both Amber and Dr. Kim said with joy.
With just one shot, I am now getting the protection I want for all Americans. In the next two weeks, my body will fully develop its response against the deadly coronavirus.
Under my mask, I still can’t stop smiling.