Today, 60 Black members of the National Academy of Medicine, led by Thomas A. LaVeist and Georges C. Benjamin, authored an op-ed in the New York Times titled “60 Black Health Experts Urge Black Americans to Get Vaccinated.”
The op-ed, which reads as an urgent call to action, states in part:
“Many of us fought our way into health professions specifically to care for the health of our community. We have devoted our careers to ensuring that everyone — regardless of race — receives the care required for optimal health. This is why we support the Covid-19 vaccines.
Disinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines has pervaded social media, feeding on long-held and absolutely warranted distrust of health institutions in Black communities. The lies are an assault on our people, and it threatens to destroy us.”
For more information on the toll of COVID-19 on Black people and other communities of color and the importance of vaccination, see:
- COVID-19 and Black Communities (Workshop or Feature Story)
- Conversations on COVID-19: Impacts on Communities of Color (Resource Hub)
- COVID-19 and Communities of Color: Implications for Health Literacy (Webinar)
- Resources on Health Equity in the Context of COVID-19 and Disproportionate Outcomes for Marginalized Groups (Resource Hub)
- Serious Illness Care, Structural Racism and Health Disparities in the Era of COVID-19 (Webinar)
Media inquiries: Dana Korsen (dkorsen@nas.edu)
