Can Tyler Perry overcome mistrust among black Americans who are skeptical about the vaccine against Covid-19?
With the pandemic exposing racial differences in the United States – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black people killed nearly three times more than white people on Covid-19 – health officials worked to promote vaccinations in black communities. , and to combat doubt.
When doctors in Atlanta asked Perry – a popular and prolific actor, director and studio director – to spread the word to the black audience that the vaccine was harmless, he agreed to interview the experts on the subject and it became a TV show. to make special of half an hour. which aired Thursday night on BET. At the show, he peppered doctors from Grady Health System with questions about the safety of the vaccine, how it was developed, how it was tested and how it works. At the end of the interview, satisfied with their answers and up his sleeve, Perry got the jab as the cameras rolled.
“Are you going to give me the chance?” he asked one of the doctors.
“Done,” replied the doctor.
“Are you done?” Ask Perry, giving him a thumbs up. “I did not feel it. There you go. I got the vaccine. Here we go. “
When they turn to Perry, they engage one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in Time magazine by 2020, and according to Forbes, his net worth is easily $ 1 billion. Perry, 51, built up her fortune to portray Madea’s wildly popular character, a tartong and disrespectful matriarch, on stage and on screen, before retiring in 2019 to concentrate on his numerous other projects. , including the management of its 330-acre. studios in Georgia.
It’s not new to have a celebrity stump for vaccines. In 1956, Elvis Presley, commissioned by health officials, received his polio vaccine in front of press photographers behind the scenes during ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ to help overcome public suspicion about the vaccine.
And in 1986, author Roald Dahl wrote a letter about the death of his 7-year-old daughter, Olivia, to measles in 1962, before a reliable vaccine was available, urging parents to have their children vaccinated. “It’s almost a crime to allow your child to be immunized,” Dahl wrote.
Skepticism about the Covid-19 vaccine among black people is of great concern to health officials. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that one in three black people hesitates about vaccine, making them one of the groups most likely to get it, along with Republicans, rural residents and people in their thirties and forties. A recent CNN analysis found that black and Latino Americans get the vaccine at significantly lower doses than white people. The arrears are attributed, among other things, to the lack of access to health care for many black people, but also to a entrenched mistrust of the medical institution.
On the BET special, Perry spoke of several notorious episodes in history that led to a lack of trust in the medical institution and government, including the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which doctors deliberately allowed syphilis to progress in black men by withholding treatment from them, and the case of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer, the cells of which were used in research without her knowledge or consent.
“We as black people have a healthy hesitation when it comes to vaccinations, and so on, and even diseases,” he said. He also cites concerns about Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s initiative to rapidly develop and distribute a vaccine.
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Answers to your vaccine questions
At present, more than 150 million people can be vaccinated – almost half of the population. But each state makes the final decision about who goes first. The country’s 21 million health workers and three million residents of long-term care facilities were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal officials urged all states to be eligible for anyone 65 and older and for adults of any age with medical conditions at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying of Covid-19 . Adults in the general population are at the back of the queue. If federal and state health officials can clear up bottlenecks in the distribution of vaccines, everyone 16 years and older will be eligible as early as spring or early summer. The vaccine has not been approved in children, although studies are underway. It can take months before a vaccine is available to anyone under the age of 16. Visit your health website for recent information on vaccination policies in your area.
You do not have to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine, although you will be asked for insurance information. If you do not have insurance, you should still receive the vaccine free of charge. Congress passed this spring legislation preventing insurers from applying any cost sharing, such as a co-payment or deductible. It was based on additional protection that pharmacies, doctors and hospitals prevented from patients, including those who were uninsured. Nevertheless, health experts are concerned that patients could end up in loopholes that make them vulnerable to surprising bills. This can happen to those who charge a doctor’s fee along with their vaccine, or Americans who have certain types of health coverage that do not fall under the new rules. If you get your vaccine at a doctor’s office or an urgent clinic, talk to them about possible hidden charges. To make sure you do not get a surprise bill, this is the best way to get your vaccine at a vaccination center or local pharmacy once the shots are more available.
It must be determined. It is possible that Covid-19 vaccinations will become an annual event, just like the flu shot. Or it could be that the benefits of the vaccine last longer than a year. We have to wait and see how durable the protection against the vaccines is. To determine this, researchers will be monitoring people who have been vaccinated to look for “breakthrough cases” – people who become ill despite being vaccinated with Covid-19. This is a sign of weakening of protection and will give researchers clues as to how long the vaccine will last. They will also monitor the levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of vaccines to determine if and when a booster shot is needed. It is possible that people need boosters every few months, once a year or only every few years. It’s just a matter of waiting for the data.
Perry said he does not want people to be vaccinated just because he did. “What I want to do is give you the information and facts,” he said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
In the interview, health specialists, Dr Carlos del Rio, executive co-dean of the Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System, and Dr Kimberly D. Manning, a professor of medicine there, said that people should not just be vaccinated. for themselves, but to help others. ‘Start individually and start thinking about’ who do I care about, who do I want to protect? ‘, The dr. Manning said. “I’m still saying, ‘It’s about us. ”
Earlier this week, when Gayle King Perry interviewed CBS This Morning, she said he would definitely be vaccinated to get a vaccine. But she wonders if his alter ego can also increase the efforts.
“Listen, I know Madea is retired,” King said. “But if Madea ever had time to think about this subject, she seemed to have something to say.”
Mr. Perry grinned, dipping his head and answering in a sound from Madea.
“I get that damn vaccine, I get the damn vaccine,” he sang and then laughed.
“That’s the thing,” King said, “people believe Madea, because Madea always speaks the truth.”