Black People Are More Hesitant About A Vaccine. A Leading Nurse Wants To Change That

Black people are disproportionately getting sick and dying of the coronavirus, but surveys suggest they’re more hesitant to get a vaccine than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.

Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, says it relates to a history of abuses. The Tuskegee Institute syphilis study, where Black men were deceived and were withheld treatment, comes to mind.

“There’s a well-documented history of Blacks being used in experiments. So even today, there’s still hesitancy to participate, and usually it is based on those prior experiences,” he tells David Greene on Morning Edition.