Why many black Americans mistrust the corona vaccine

America is grappling with a deep divide between the numbers of white and black people getting vaccinated. To date, more than half of the vaccines went to white Americans and only a paltry 5 percent to people in the black community. This inequality is not only because the vaccine is less accessible to African Americans, but also because of a deep-rooted distrust of the medical world.

A little boy runs after his big brother in the boxing ring. Above it is a bright yellow banner with the motto “No hooks before books”; those who want to box have to do their homework first.

Founder Marvin McDowell’s boxing gym is located in one of the poorest areas of Baltimore. This is much more than just a place to train, it is also a kind of community center for many young people in the neighborhood. “We do everything we can to make sure they make the right choices,” says McDowell. Getting a shot in your arm against the corona virus is not part of that, according to him.

“I don’t trust it. The stuff they develop for us is probably killing us anyway,” said boxing gym owner Martin McDowell. “Have you ever heard of Tuskegee?”

Unethical experiment

McDowell is referring to an infamous experiment that took place between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama. In this study, white scientists promised free care to six hundred poor black men in exchange for their participation. For 40 years they were deliberately not treated for syphilis because the researchers wanted to study the course of that disease.

The participants were not told about the true nature of the experiment. Many of them went blind, developed mental disorders or died from the effects of the disease. And it isn’t the only unethical experiment conducted on black people. Incidentally, in 1997, then President Clinton apologized on behalf of the US government for Tuskegee’s experiment, which he called “blatantly racist.”

This past has given rise to a lot of mistrust within the black community, McDowell tells correspondent Marieke de Vries:

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