A recent survey, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, found that 72% of Black people, and 42% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups were unlikely to take the #COVID19 #Vaccine. We've created this thread, the history behind #VaccineHesitancy, which explains why.

#POC are hesitant about taking the #COVID19Vaccine for a variety of reasons, both historical and recent. Including inequality in healthcare, past mistreatment of Black people in medical trials, erasure of history, lack of information and misinformation.

1) One of these reasons is rooted in historical #MedicalTrials. J Marion Sims, 'The Father of Gynaecology', experimented on enslaved #BlackWomen without their consent and without using anaesthesia.

2) #HenriettaLacks was a cervical patient whose cells were taken from her before she died. Her cells were used to study various #Diseases. #Medical practitioners shared her cells with the rest of the world, along with her medical records - without the knowledge of her family.

3) The #TuskageeTestTrials, for 40 years ending in 1972, in the #USA, Doctors intentionally did not treat African-American men infected with syphilis in order to study the course of the disease, even when #Medication became readily available.

4) #TrovanDrugTrial, in #Nigeria, #Pfizer agreed to a £25 million settlement with Kano State after 11 children died in a 1996 trial of an experimental meningitis drug.

5) As early as April 2020 two French Doctors suggested that #COVID vaccines should be tested in #AfricanCountries.

However, this was dismissed by #MedicalPractitioners worldwide.

6) #SystemicRacism, medicine in the UK is white-centred and often doesn't take Black skin into account. #POC's contribution to medicine are often erased from History books. Early vaccinations were practiced in #Africa and #China before coming to the White West.

7) Experience of poor #Healthcare, many #POC and communities have reported that #MedicalPractitioners do not take their symptoms seriously. Black people have also said that when they report pain, medical practitioners are reluctant to give them pain medication.

8) #BlackWomen in the UK are also 5 times more likely to die in #Childbirth than their white counterparts.

Sources for this thread are below.

Keep an eye out on our website for more information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine: https://sparkandco.co.uk/latest/blogs