The Black Coalition Against COVID’s (BCAC) is launching a new program called Black Doctors Read COVID Tweets. It is available to the public today.
The new series features health professionals reading tweets from members of the Black community about the COVID pandemic and the various COvid 19 vaccines. They will comment and make informed personal suggestions in an effort to bridge the gap between vaccine hesitancy and what may be the need for education as it relates to the science of vaccines in the Black community.
Dr. Reed Tuckson, BCAC cofounder and former commissioner of Public Health DC, shares that he’s “hungry to get my life back.”
One of the tweets shares the conflict of a nation-wide push toward ridding skepticism of the COVID vaccine in the Black community while the lack of access to vaccines compared to the white community, unwittingly supports the doubts.
“Man, that’s a real paradox, isn’t it?” Tuckson said. “Let’s keep pushing. Let’s fight for access. Let’s make sure that all of us who need it, want it, and can’t wait to get it, can get it.”
The BCAC says that there is an “unfortunate narrative” surrounding vaccine hesitancy. This narrative is the reason why BCAC and its 40+ organizations use science-based information curated specifically for the Black community to reduce health disparities.
“A lot of times they try to make us somehow abnormal because we ask questions, or make use seem as if we are outliers because we don’t want to get vaccinated when in reality, the overwhelming majority of us do,” described Tuckson in part 1 of the initiative. “We’re smart. We know what’s going on. We can read the science.”
“That’s why we at the Black Coalition Against COVID and all the Black health professionals that are part of us are saying to our community every day, ‘Ask questions, but get the facts. And realize that we can’t fall into the rumors that they say about us that we don’t want [the vaccine],'” he continued.
In the latest episode of the series, Tuckson ends the segment reminding people to wear masks, wash their hands, and get the COVID vaccine when it becomes available to them.
“In all seriousness, Black doctors and health advocates like me are working as hard as we can to prioritize and save Black lives from this COVID pandemic,” Tuckson notes. “After all, we’re all in this together, and together we’ll get through this pandemic,” he added.
By subscribing, you consent to receive emails from BlackDoctor.com. You may unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service.
