When President Donald Trump a visit to the National Institutes of Health last March, the clues at the vaccine research center explained their life-saving mission. The key to the mission was a 34-year-old doctor named dr. Kizzmekia Corbett.
“I was just there to tell the task force about the work we were doing,” Corbett told Michelle Miller, “CBS This Morning: Saturday.”
Two weeks after the visit, Corbett’s team began the first phase of clinical trials. She said they took a lot of note of what they had gained over the past six years and applied it in collaboration with Moderna on a vaccine platform. The vaccine rolled out ten months later.
“The vaccine teaches the body how to ward off a virus, because it teaches the body how to look for the virus by basically just showing the vein protein of the virus to the body,” she explained. “The body then says, ‘Oh, we’ve seen this protein before. Let’s go fight it.’ This is how it works. ‘
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, attributed Corbett to her work during a webinar.
“The vaccine you’re going to take was developed by an African-American woman and that’s just a fact,” Fauci said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 6.5 million Americans received their first dose Covid-19 vaccine. The number is expected to grow daily, although it lags well behind what public health experts had hoped to see.
Corbett’s interest in science began at an early age, but she never knew what difference she would make.
“To be honest, I did not realize what impact my visibility could have … I do my job because I love my job so much,” Corbett said.
One occasion in her life made an important difference. She is studying at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as a Meyerhoff scholar, an aggressive program that guides minorities and women in science. Graduates of the program include Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
Dr. Freeman Hrabowski has been president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore for nearly 30 years. He said Corbett had a strong scientific background, but the way she was able to talk to people set her apart from the rest.
“She’s definitely going to bring it to life,” Hrabowski said. “We need more scientists who can connect with people. She could do it easily when she was 17. What we do at UMBC is to support students of color, black, but also students in general, to make sure that they get it in science. “
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 18% of all students with a STEM degree study, below 2% are black – something Hrabowski believes needs to change.
“It’s important for people to see what people look like, like themselves, who might be involved. If it’s about women, or if it’s about Blacks because it shows that you have people who understand what you’ve been through. . “
Dr Barney Graham and Corbett have been working together for over 15 years. Graham is not just her mentor. He is also Corbett’s boss as deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center.
“If you recognize that someone has special qualities, you need to do things that can eliminate the other things and avoid some of the rejection that happens not only to minority people but also to women,” Graham said.
Historically, the prejudice affects not only professionals in the field but also those who serve them. In 1931, scientists conducted the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, a study by the Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute. It investigated the progression of syphilis by leaving infected black men untreated, without taking into account the suffering it caused.
Another example that is frequently mentioned is the removal of special cells from Henretta Lacks, a cancer patient in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1951, a research team at Johns Hopkins University removed Lacks’ cells without her permission and used them for billions of dollars worth of medical research. Lack of cancer died and her family was never compensated.
“There are many other examples of so-called objective scientists who care about anyone who appreciates people of color less … This is a painful truth,” Hrabowski said.
Corbett’s understanding of socio-cultural issues and her knowledge of science made her an influential person in the scientific community.
At a time when vaccine skepticism is high among African Americans, Corbett hopes that blacks will have confidence in the vaccine and confidence in scientists working behind the scenes to bring it to the American people.
“Number one is that I get it. And then number two is to really take advantage of the level of transparency we try … even I have not even seen, like FDA trials and information sessions are broadcast online, and data comes out almost immediately, ‘she said.
What Dr. As for Hrabowski, he believes Corbett deserves all the visibility she can get.
“She can not be a hidden figure,” he said. “She must be in textbooks. Little girls must see her – of all races. That is what is possible.”