There have been 24,000 health care workers vaccinated so far in North Carolina, and of those, only eight percent are Black or African American.
Assistant Professor of Medicine Duke Health Dr. Julius Wilder is part of that eight percent. However, he acknowledges that many in communities of color are still skeptical.
“This is a little alarming, particularly in this case because of the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on communities of color. It’s going to be really important that we think about how we can do a better job of engaging those communities both in the medical health profession and outside to ensure that they get their vaccinations,” said Wilder.
In recent years, North Carolina agreed to compensate people, mostly Black, who were forced to be sterilized as part of a state eugenics program that ended in the 1970s.
