Here in part is what I wrote months ago in “Covid Vaccine: Fear Not Blacks, a Black Woman Developed It,” December 12, 2020:
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The legacy of racism in America manifests in many cruel ways. And sometimes the cruelty is replete with irony. Case in point is the racist way the US government treated Blacks for its infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Because this has Blacks now fearing its Covid vaccine, which could save their lives. …
This is why no less a person than Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is spearheading a PR campaign to let Blacks know that one of their own [Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett] is behind this vaccination drive.
I just hope she gets more credit for developing the vaccine than for being the Black face the government used to get Blacks to take it. As it happens, with all due respect to Dr. Fauci, I began hailing her in my homage to pioneering women earlier this year in “No Surprise: Earth Day Sees Women Leaders Doing Best Job in Combating Covid-19,” April 22, 2020.
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I share that to explain why I was seized with dismissive indignation when I read this:
One expert said attitudes toward the vaccine among Black Americans have taken ‘almost a 180-degree turnaround,’ thanks to outreach efforts lead by Black physicians, faith leaders and other community organizers.
(The Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2021)
Still, you have to wonder why Dr. Fauci did not arrange for Dr. Corbett to do at least a fraction of the media interviews he did this past year. Surely seeing more of her might have decreased hesitancy among Blacks long ago, no?
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Dr. Corbett…