History, Trauma and Science: Building Trust Around the Vaccine for Black Communities
02/23/2021
Saint Louis University's Cross Cultural Center will host a webinar Thursday, Feb. 25, titled History, Trauma and Science: Building Trust Around the Vaccine for Black Communities.
For Black History Month, the Cross Cultural Center will facilitate an hour and a half community conversation regarding public mistrust around the COVID-19 vaccines and debunking some myths for Black communities.
The webinar will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Panelists include:
- Michael Railey, M.D., associate dean of multicultural affairs at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
- Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., associate professor of history and director of African American Studies
- Mikel Whittier, adjunct professor of strategic management in health care in the College for Public Health and Social Justice
- Charles Martin, M.S.Ed., assistant director of Diversity and Community Engagement, Cross Cultural Center
The conversation will begin with the history behind Black communities and how they were used for medical testing. The panel will then shift to talking about the science and facts about the COVID-19 vaccine and why it should be taken.
Panelists plan to address:
- Why don’t Black communities trust the vaccine?
- What were the Tuskegee experiments?
- How has Black mistrust for healthcare system affected Black Health?
- Why is a vaccine so important for stopping this pandemic? Are there other solutions?
- How was the vaccine made so fast? Was it rushed? Is it safe?
- What are the key messages we want to communicate to family and friends?
- How do we connect people to resources?
- What can people who want to support do?
The webinar will end with an open forum for additional faculty, staff and student questions.