Why some Black Americans are vaccine hesitant

COVID-19 can infect anyone. But some communities in the U.S. have been hit harder because of racial disparities. Black Americans are almost three times as likely to be hospitalized and almost twice as likely to die from the disease as their white counterparts. With harsh statistics like those, it might seem Black adults would be rushing to be first in line for the coronavirus vaccine. But as a group, they’re not.

Clark University’s Esther Jones describes the long history that helps explain the vaccine hesitancy among the Black population. Centuries of what she calls medical mistreatment and malfeasance add up to mistrust in the medical establishment today.

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