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Since vaccines are the topic today, lets talk Tuskegee!
Tons of black people today have alot of distrust in clinical trials/new medicines/vaccines due to experiences in history where disadvantaged groups, particularly black people, were treated unethically
In fact, the reason there are SO many heavy rules and regulations that have to be followed in clinical research has everything to do with unethical studies in the past. Tuskegee being one of them of course
In the 1930’s a few hundred black men, the majority infected with syphilis & a control group that was not, were offered a chance to be a part of a study that was supposed to treat their syphillis
For clarification, those in the control group were under the impression that they were ill as well. *disclaimer* I’m not 100% sure if participants of the study knew they had syphilis specifically, but they did know they were being treated for “bad blood”
Problem 1. Informed Consent wasn’t a thing back then. Participants were told the scope of the study was to treat their bad blood, that was not true. Researchers wanted to observe the longer term effects of UNtreated syphilis. I’m sure you can already see how this was unethical
I’d like to point out that there was no existing treatment for syphilis at the time. So folks was literally just lying
Problem 2. When the actual treatment for syphilis came about years later, participants were still never informed nor was the treatment administered. Many participants at the time were low SES, low education & obv didnt have access to the newest medicines. So many just didn’t know
P3. As the study progressed over literal decades, participants were followed as their conditions worsened. Many died, suffered through their illness, developed psychological issues, passed it down to their children, etc. Meantime between time, researchers did nothing but observe
Finally in THE 70’s!!! someone peeped that this was still going on in Tuskegee. Word started to spread. Shit hit the fan & the study was terminated. Again, this started in the 1930’s. My own MOM was born in 64. This is still very recent
Horrible fact. *As far as I know* none of the researchers in charge of study faced any jail time or any consequences. When news of the study hit the press & received backlash, many of them dropped out of the study before it was officially terminated. How convenient.
If i had to guess, they were able to evade consequences because we didn’t have the same regulations back then as we do now. Plus, remember these were black bodies they were experimenting on. Mfs never loved us. The bar was lower
Small bright side: living participants & family members of the deceased were offered settlement checks. Not clear on how much, but i do know it was spread out among them all. Obviously doesn’t make up for what happened tho.
Now time for my soapbox. We have every reason to be apprehensive about a new vaccine, that was developed in under a year. History shows that we should be. Additionally, please understand that in no way is it legal in 2020 for anyone to force a vaccine on you
My point of this thread was just to shed some light on some of our history, because i know over the years that story has morphed into “they were injecting people with syphilis” and while everything that DID happen is still awful, thats not true
Disclaimer, I’m not a doctor or even a nurse. I’m just a clinical research coordinator who’s getting a master’s degree in this field. It’s okay to be worried about the vaccine. My solution is, let white people take it first so we can assess. Boom, everyone wins
Okay, I’m done making myself sound fancy & important. I have to go into a long meeting now. Please wear a mask that covers your nose and mind the business that pays you. Thx for coming to my ted talk 
