Bridget Todd (00:03):

You're listening Disinformed, a mini series from There are No Girls on the Internet. I'm Bridget Todd.

Bridget Todd (00:13):

Did you watch Saturday Night Live last week? If you did, you probably saw a skit a lot of people are criticizing for unfairly portraying Black folks and our hesitancy around the COVID-19 vaccine. In the skit, Daniel Kaluuya plays a Black doctor trying to convince his Black cousins, aunties, and uncles to get the COVID-19 vaccine by offering them money and none of them will do it.

Daniel Kaluuya (00:35):

What about you, Aunt Shauna?

Speaker 3 (00:35):

You know I can't take that vaccine. I am a Christian.

Daniel Kaluuya (00:38):

Who told you Christians can't take the vaccine?

Speaker 3 (00:40):

Facebook.

Bridget Todd (00:42):

Okay, so here's the problem. If we're going to talk about vaccine hesitancy in the Black community, we also need to be putting it in context. Our country has a deep and lasting legacy of medical racism, where Black folks were ignored or actively mistreated and that still has far reaching impacts today. So it's not difficult to understand why some Black folks might be hesitant about vaccines and the medical field in general, and any conversation that does not include that reality as a necessary context is incomplete. And furthermore, making Black communities the face of vaccine hesitancy is not actually borne out by the data. Black folks are actually enthusiastic about the COVID-19 vaccine. We're the fastest growing demographic to say that we would like to get vaccinated. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that Black adults saw the largest increase in vaccine enthusiasm, with the portion of those who have gotten or say they will get the vaccine jumping to 55% from just 20% in December.

Bridget Todd (01:37):

And what about white vaccine hesitancy? According to Pew, white evangelicals are the least likely demographic to say they'll get vaccinated. Of the around 41 million white evangelical adults in the United States, around 45% of them say they will not get vaccinated against COVID-19. And yet we still make Black folks the face of vaccine hesitancy.

Bridget Todd (01:58):

Despite COVID disproportionately impacting the Black community and our enthusiasm for getting vaccinated, Black folks are still getting vaccinated less. Black folks and Latinos are only about 60% as likely to have had the COVID-19 vaccine as their white counterparts, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's because right now, the real issue isn't hesitancy, it's equal access. An NPR study that you can find a link to in the show description found deep disparities in Black communities when it comes to accessing the COVID 19 vaccine. They found that in some states with lots of Black folks, states like Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama, Black and brown neighborhoods had fewer vaccine distribution sites, while few whiter neighborhoods or without one. Not to mention the fact that many vaccine registration portals require internet access and Pew found that Black households are 30% less likely to own a computer.

Bridget Todd (02:51):

We've also seen white wealthier folks jumping the vaccine line and misusing programs meant to vaccinate Black, brown and low income communities. I know here in DC where I live, people looking for vaccines had to get up early and keep refreshing the city's website in the hopes of getting an open slot. And what if you had to work or deal with childcare? Not everybody has the ability to spend a few hours refreshing a website in the hopes of getting an open vaccine slot.

Bridget Todd (03:17):

The bottom line is, blaming Black hesitancy without any context for the Black community's low vaccination rates is actually really harmful because it minimizes the importance of equal access to healthcare and instead shifts the onus away from our medical institutions and puts it on the choices of individual Black people instead.

Bridget Todd (03:35):

I'm happy to say that I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine. I was even happier to learn that it was developed by a team led by 34 year old Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman scientist who leads a team at the National Institute of Health. Here's what she told CNN's Abby Philip.

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (03:52):

There is a subset of people who just hasn't been listened to around their health issues and around technology, really. And, at this point, I just felt like it was time for me to sit down and empathize with an entire group of people who had been ignored.

Bridget Todd (04:08):

And I know it may not make for the most hilarious SNL skit, but when we talk about Black folks and vaccines, I hope we can also make room to amplify the fact that this amazing Black woman is a big part of the reason why we have one of those vaccines in the first place.

Bridget Todd (04:29):

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Bridget Todd (04:36):

Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or just want to say hi? We'd love to hear from you at hello@tangoti.com.

Bridget Todd (04:42):

Disinformed is brought to you by There are No Girls on the Internet. It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer and engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd.

Bridget Todd (04:57):

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