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There are a lot of articles and news segments about anticipated Black skepticism of covid vaccines but not a ton of data being cited as far as I can see. Just read a piece saying 59% of Black Protestants say they'll take the vaccine, on par with 60% of the general public.
The *reasons* for covid vaccine skepticism can differ without it necessarily being the case that Black Americans are uniquely reluctant to get vaccinated, which is what a lot of the coverage implies.
It's important to address differing reasons because 1) you can't address vaccine skepticism while being ignorant of the reasons for it and 2) hello, we need to talk about historical and ongoing medical racism against Black people and other POC…
But there's something that feels reductive and kind of patronizing about how this is being reported.
As ever, the plural of anecdote is not data.
This maybe is what is bothering me about this coverage. Lots of pieces on why Black people need reassuring about covid vaccines and basically zero on how the vaccine skeptic MOVEMENT—not the same—is predominantly white and informed by whiteness. https://twitter.com/rxbun/status/1338274981659152387?s=20
It's just more of the same pathologizing Black communities while simultaneously operating from the assumption that disproportionately white fringe movements don't reflect in any way on white people or on whiteness. Blackness is always a problem to fix.
our news media is next to useless thanks for coming to my ted talk
Addendum: recent Pew data shows almost 20% diff between white + Black respondents in willingness to take a covid-19 vaccine. Still: similar diff between white + Asian respondents yet that's not news 
, and reluctance + vaccine skepticism not nec the same. https://twitter.com/pewscience/status/1336841822472167427
, and reluctance + vaccine skepticism not nec the same. https://twitter.com/pewscience/status/1336841822472167427
Further addendum: Kaiser data released today shows an 11% differential between white (73%) + Black (62%) respondents and 9% between Black respondents and all respondents (71%). Meanwhile, 56% of Republicans surveyed say they will/may get the vaccine. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/report/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-december-2020/
Also consider the issue of framing. Pathologizing Black comms by framing the issue as vaccine reluctance on Black people's part rather than an issue of medical racism on the medical establishment's part and the natural consequence of undermined trust with Black communities.
Unsurprisingly Black-led conversations about this generally start from the issue of medical and societal racism while those that aren't Black-led skirt that issue or address it very superficially.
this is a long way of saying the way this is being covered is starting to piss me off >_>
Correction: This should have read 9% differential between white (71%) and Black (62%) Americans. Also the thumbnail for the summary has different numbers from the summary itself which is confusing? In any case. https://twitter.com/graceishuman/status/1338971662172164097
In any case, lots of nuance being left out of coverage of opinions on covid-19 vaccines, lots of selective problematizing of certain demographics and overlooking others. And like @rxbun said—there's a subtext of blaming Black folks that's…interesting in a majority white country.
You know…Tuskegee is not really the most relevant example of medical racism for covid vaccine discussions.
Relatedly: there seems to be subtext here, sometimes even with Black commentators, that Black wariness of a new vaccine is ignorant and ridiculous.
Relatedly: there seems to be subtext here, sometimes even with Black commentators, that Black wariness of a new vaccine is ignorant and ridiculous.
Like…who is actually, seriously making this specific comparison? https://twitter.com/brandonujohnson/status/1339310680885895168
To be clear, I'm not saying no one is making the comparison. But this very much feels like boosting an otherwise minor hashtag through viral criticism of it. Like...are we going to all this effort to debunk an argument that not that many people are making?
Saw a comment on here a few months ago asking why Tulsa seems to have become the sole reference point for talking about anti-Black riots and massacres in US history. Feels like something similar is happening with Tuskegee...
The insidious effect of having one event or example become *the* one that's constantly referenced: it implies *this* bad thing happened this *one* time. Not that this is a particularly illustrative or memorable example of a long history/ongoing reality of racial violence.
This is truly vexing me. I feel like it should be fairly clear that Black references to Tuskegee are at least as likely to be in proxy for the general issue of medical racism as in direct parallel to the development/distribution of covid-19 vaccines.
I'm getting what vaccine is made available to me when that time comes. But it's not remotely wild or farfetched for Black people to be wary of a racist medical establishment. That's the bottom line: medicine is rife with racism. *That's* why some Black people have concerns.
For realsies, why is this narrative being pushed so hard? 5 of the 6 headlines below...
On CNN now: "The Color of Covid: The Vaccines"
This is just so very interesting.
This is just so very interesting.
My head might actually EXPLODE omg https://twitter.com/i/events/1341420834523639808?s=20
Folks: Just keep looking at this coverage critically and asking why there's so much specific, repeated focus on Black attitudes towards covid vaccines.
Waiting for the race analysis on white pastors who tell their congregations covid prevention measures are signs of un-Christian fear, that this isn't a pandemic, and that they will never take the vaccine.
Also: as @moyazb pointed out, if you *really* want to talk about Black concerns with this pandemic? Talk about housing, food security, education, incarceration, healthcare and outcomes. Most USians Black or not won't be getting vaccines for months. These issues are urgent NOW.
But this media obsession with Black people and covid vaccines is concern trolling and just really fucking weird.
