Sometimes a cliché is just right. For example, the Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore looks like a war zone.
Most of the residents are African American, and what that means, not just here but nationally, is that they are hospitalized and die of COVID-19, two to three times as fast as white Americans. Prison is a perfect breeding ground for the disease, but when ex-convicts come home to Sandtown, they get a softer euphemism: “Returning citizens.”
“We still have massive unemployment in the community. We have returning citizens,” said Reverend Derrick DeWitt.
DeWitt is a field marshal in the local war on poverty, disease and hunger.
“My church is in a food desert. Seventy-four square blocks from Sandtown,” DeWitt told CBS Sunday Morning’s Ted Koppel. “We have about 109 stores that sell alcohol. But we don’t have one supermarket.”
Five thousand families a month are fed at First Mount Calvary Baptist Church. It is more complicated to convince those same people to get vaccinated against COVID. Blame some of that on the trash circulating on the internet.
“There is a conspiracy that Bill Gates helped them design a microchip that will be implanted in you as a result of the vaccination,” said DeWitt.
Even more dangerous are the disturbances of real medical outrage. One headline claims that government health workers, clearly from many years ago, are injecting southern rural blacks with syphilis. Then, at the bottom of the page, the question, “Do you still want a corona vaccine?”
The government didn’t inject anyone with syphilis, but what did happen was in some ways even worse.
Dr. Reed Tuckson is a co-founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID-19 and provides facts about the vaccine.
“The Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in African Americans began in the 1930s,” Tuckson told Koppel. “It was a study that was conducted without the informed consent of the men and it was done in a way that looked to observe what would happen to those who already had syphilis and it was untreated … to see what the effects would be. to be.”
Nearly 50 years after it ended, the Tuskegee study remains a problem.
“Unfortunately, in the 1940s, we had a drug called penicillin that we knew was effective in treating this disease,” Tuckson said. And those men were denied access. The investigation lasted for 40 years without anyone raising the alarm or worrying. ‘
What happened to those men?
“Unfortunately, there are two things: those men died of the disease and became extremely ill for long, long periods of their lives.” Tuckson said. “And number two, because they weren’t told what disease they had, they spread that disease to the women in their lives, to their wives and lovers, who got syphilis because of it.”
“No one has ever been punished or held responsible … for this outrage,” Tuckson said. “And that’s a stain on America’s conscience.”
It has also had a lasting impact on the black community’s confidence in the medical establishment.
“And what’s so scandalous today is that 40 years later, the study experience of Tuskegee syphilis is still the rate-limiting step in the fight against this pandemic,” Tuckson said.
“And then you link all of that to the conspiracy theories out there,” DeWitt said. “When I talk to our … employees, it was everything.” I don’t know what’s in the vaccine. I do not trust it. They developed it too quickly. You know, they’re trying to make us sterile. . ”
In addition to his ministry, the pastor runs a nursing home.
“That nursing home was founded in 1920 by a group of ministers in town called the Maryland Baptist Aged Home for Colored People,” said DeWitt.
Nationwide, there have been more than 160,000 COVID deaths in nursing homes. All this makes the health record of this nursing home even more remarkable.
“We haven’t had any COVID infections among our employees or our residents, thank goodness,” said DeWitt. “So we count that as a miracle and a blessing.”
It is also the mark of a tough, disciplined manager.
“We were extreme in our measures because we don’t let anyone in,” said DeWitt. “Our residents did not leave unless it was an extreme emergency.”
But when it came time to vaccinate the staff, “I was even surprised at my nursing home, which has 42 employees. Our first vaccination clinic, we only had 11 employees taking the vaccine,” said DeWitt.
The pastor set the example. He was the first to be vaccinated. He spoke one on one with his staff. He prayed with them.
“So that helped a bit,” DeWitt said. “And then we had to get to the point where, for the sake of our residents and the kind of facility we are, I’m not sure I can guarantee your job if you don’t use the vaccine.”
All but two employees got the message – and the vaccine.
“We didn’t have to fire anyone,” DeWitt told Koppel. “There are some discrepancies as to whether or not we can make the vaccine mandatory.”
“But what you’re telling me is that we’ve had COVID in this country for over a year now,” Koppel said. “And you haven’t had a single case in that time.”
“We haven’t had a single case,” said DeWitt.
AG Rhodes operates three non-profit nursing homes in the greater Atlanta area. In the past year, 26 of their residents and 1 employee died of COVID. Jovonne Harvey is marketing director at the flagship facility.
“About 90% of the facility is likely to be African American,” Harvey told Koppel.
“And what was the response when the patients first heard about the vaccine?” Koppel asked.
“They welcomed it because they wanted to get back to their normal daily functions,” said Harvey.
“And what about the staff, same?” Koppel asked.
Harvey said they were “not as excited about getting the vaccine as the residents.”
“You’re very diplomatic,” said Koppel. Not only were they not thrilled. They were resistant, weren’t they? ‘
‘Yes, they were. They were very resistant, ”said Harvey. “I would say maybe 30% of the staff were willing to take the vaccine.”
The company held a congregation meeting to address the concerns of their employees. Harvey, who was initially hesitant himself, was given the vaccine and was one of the first to help spread the message:
“So you were kind of a role model in some ways,” Koppel said.
“I think it helped a lot,” said Harvey.
Well, not that much. The company even offered incentives: paid time off, bonuses up to $ 500. Currently only 48% of the workforce is vaccinated.
“It’s not great. But it’s definitely a start,” said Harvey.
“Jovonne, we have been in the clutches of this pandemic for over a year,” said Koppel. How much time do people need? We have 450,000 dead. ‘
“I know,” said Harvey.
“What’s stopping them now?” Koppel asked.
“I just think it’s just general anxiety,” said Harvey. “They’re not sure which way to go.”
“I have both heard young people talk to the elderly in their families and say, ‘You really need to get the vaccine,'” Koppel told Dr. Reed Tuckson. And on the other hand, I hear that among the people in the black community who are most suspicious of the vaccine are members of the young community. Which one is it?’
“The segment of the population that is most resistant will be our young people. These are young people who have grown up with the greatest level of suspicion, because of all the problems they have faced in their lives, especially in criminal justice and police., “Tuckson said.” So they’re the ones who are the hardest to reach right now. “
Jim Mangia is President and CEO of St John’s Well Child and Family Center. Their community clinics, in South LA and Compton, receive 100,000 patients annually, including 35,000 undocumented immigrants.
“LA is really a tale of two cities. You have the extremely wealthy West Side, and then you have the extremely poor South Side and East Side,” Mangia told Koppel.
St. John’s was at the forefront of the fight against COVID. Now they are trying to fight misinformation about the vaccine.
Deploy Spanish-speaking outreachers to the Latino neighborhoods. They need to reassure the undocumented that they will not be handed over to immigration and, more importantly, that getting the vaccine will not kill them.
St. John’s vaccinates 1,500 to 2,000 people daily; but Jim Mangia insists that’s not nearly enough.
“What do you think are the biggest hurdles to getting the most disadvantaged communities in California vaccinated?” Koppel asked.
“The lack of vaccine is a major problem,” said Mangia. “The tricky website and appointment system that the state has set up is extremely difficult to navigate. And many of our patients who work all day by the time they get home, all those appointments have been made by people from the West Side – White , young hipsters who can search for a vaccine all day long. “
Preliminary government data shows widespread disparity between races receiving the vaccines: more than 60% of vaccinations have gone to whites, less than 9% to Hispanics, and less than 6% to blacks.
“I don’t think we’ll be successful unless we figure out a way to get the vaccine to people,” said DeWitt. “We see 5,000 people come through our church every month to get food … If we can vaccinate during a food drive, if we engage the faith-based community as partners in the vaccination process, I think it will go a long way to make it happen. get people to get the vaccine. “
“You have to vaccinate the most vulnerable first and that’s how you really get immunity to the herd,” Mangia said. “You have to vaccinate the most reluctant, the most vulnerable people, and then you can really start mass vaccination and take us to a place where we can return to normal life.”