The Tuskegee syphilis study remains an obstacle to African Americans in trusting health information from government sources, including information about the COVID-19 vaccine, a University of Missouri study finds.
The study’s main author is Wilson Majee, associate professor in the MU School of Health Professions. “The Past is So Present: Understanding COVID-19 Hesitancy Among African American Adults Using Qualitative Data” was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
The study was conducted through interviews with 21 local church leaders, lifestyle coaches and participants in Live Well by Faith, a community faith-based wellness program from the Boone County health department.
In the Tuskegee syphilis study, hundreds of Black men in Alabama over a period of 40 years were left untreated for syphilis. Even after penicillin became widely accepted as a cure, study participants were denied access to it. The Black men in the study were not informed of the nature of the study. The Associated Press broke the story revealing the program 50 years ago this week.
The Tuskegee study will remain a stain on health care research, Majee said. It won’t be forgotten, because Black people continue to be reminded by continued injustices, he said.
“There is police brutality and injustices happening now,” not only in the past, Majee said.
Here’s that point made by a lifestyle coach from the study:
“I think even when we attempt to move on, it’s not allowed. They continue to show us how much disregard they have for our lives, in so many ways, I mean, George Floyd. They continue to show us that no, it’s not in the past. It’s not over. ‘We still have it out for y’all.’ Those kinds of past experiences in our community are the hesitation.”
And from a Live Well by Faith participant from the study:
“Especially as of late with so many Black people being killed by law enforcement, and they’re involved. That’s part of the government infrastructure. … We’ve all been slightly jaded. Especially, I know my generation especially. Because I’ve seen so many people my age say, ‘I’m not getting vaccinated. I’ll wait until you all get vaccinated, and we’ll see what happens with you guys.’
“But I think a lot of it is just, it’s just we’re extremely jaded because we’ve unfortunately had to witness a lot of bad things happening recently with the man, or whoever we consider to be, you know, trying to attack us. I think we’re on a form of defense for everything. And it’s pretty unfortunate because not everything is an attack, but I think even with the vaccine, we see that as some form of an attack.”
Many African Americans see the vaccine as not being good for them because it’s coming from the government, Majee said.
Among African Americans, there’s mistrust in health care workers, too. Study participant George Norman Jr., chairman of deacons at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, said he has asthma and went to a hospital emergency room twice with COVID-19 and was sent back home before being admitted the third time.
He questioned if his treatment was related to his race.
“I was saying to myself, ‘Had I been a white person, would I have been sent home the first time with my medical condition?’ My wife is already in the hospital. We’ve already announced we have COVID. Why would you send me home, back and forth, instead of getting me in and getting me the treatment that I need?” Norman said in the study.
He gave permission for his name to be used.
“Both times I was having difficulty breathing,” Norman said in a phone interview with the Tribune.
Too often, health care workers disregard health complaints of Black people, he said.
“I think a lot of people accept it and stop going to the doctor because they’re not doing anything for you,” Norman said. “They stay home and get worse.”
Health care workers need to be more conscious of their decisions, he said.
“You have a person who gets in a situation where they feel helpless and they may die,” he said.
He was almost in that situation, he said.
“God was looking out for me,” Norman said.
“If he would have been accepted the first time, maybe he would not have those feelings,” Majee said.
Not enough Black doctors promoting the COVID-19 vaccines was another source of vaccine hesitation among African Americans, Majee said. Even so, Live Well by Faith tried to remedy that by bringing minority health care providers from the MU School of Medicine to talk about the effectiveness of the vaccines.
“I attended one of their sessions,” Majee said.
Misinformation from social media was another source of vaccine hesitancy among local African Americans.
Here’s a church leader quoted from the study:
“I think Facebook is definitely a negative to African Americans in terms of getting knowledge. When you go to Facebook and people are talking, ‘Don’t get the vaccine. It’s DNA from aliens. It’s something that’s going to kill us. This is just another way of them experimenting on us.’
“When you go to Facebook and look how many people on Facebook, young and old, and they hear that over and over again, it becomes a process in their head that says, ‘OK, I’m not going to do it because everybody says don’t do it.’ That’s one thing that’s hurting us — listening to the negative parts of the anti-vaccine folks.”
The rapid development of the vaccine also caused vaccine hesitancy, because African Americans are skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry, Majee said.
A trusted source for vaccine information is clergy and church leaders, the study found. That makes Live Well by Faith and programs like it hugely important, Majee said.
“It is very important for health care providers to try to leverage programs like Live Well by Faith and to use minority church leaders in that way,” Majee said.
Co-authors of the MU study include Adaobi Anakwe, Kelechi Onyeaka and Idethia Harvey.
Roger McKinney is the education reporter for the Tribune. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com.
