. 2021 Jun;8(3):543-546.

doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01025-4. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Addressing Justified Vaccine Hesitancy in the Black Community

Cato T Laurencin^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue L7036, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
² Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Farmington, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁴ Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁶ Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁷ African Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.

PMID: 33783755
PMCID: PMC8009077
DOI: 10.1007/s40615-021-01025-4

Addressing Justified Vaccine Hesitancy in the Black Community

Cato T Laurencin. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2021 Jun.

. 2021 Jun;8(3):543-546.

doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01025-4. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Author

Cato T Laurencin^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue L7036, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
² Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Farmington, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁴ Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁶ Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
⁷ African Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.

PMID: 33783755
PMCID: PMC8009077
DOI: 10.1007/s40615-021-01025-4

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a terrible and long-lasting impact on the world. As the infection spreads, the projected mortality and economic devastation are unprecedented. Racism and its subsequent effects on social and economic factors have resulted in the virus disproportionally effecting Black people. Given that the virus has hit the Black community the hardest, I am concerned now that vaccine hesitancy may perpetuate the health disparities that we are currently seeing in the numbers of infections and deaths taking place in the Black community.

Keywords: Blacks; COVID-19; Infections; Vaccine; Vaccine Hesitancy; Virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Laurencin is a member of the board of MiMedx Company. Dr. Laurencin has served as a consultant for Johnson and Johnson Company.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
COVID-19 national vaccinations and data by race [7]

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

1. Laurencin CT, McClinton A. The COVID-19 pandemic: a call to action to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2020;7(3):398–402. doi: 10.1007/s40615-020-00756-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Laurencin CT, Walker JM. A pandemic on a pandemic: racism and COVID-19 in Blacks. Cell Syst. 2020;11(1):9–10. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2020.07.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Stein, R.. Troubling history in medical research still fresh for Black Americans. NPR. 2017. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/10/25/556673640/scientist....
1. Demographic trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US reported to CDC. Center for Disease Controls. 2021. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics.
1. COVID-19 deaths analyzed by race and ethnicity. APM Research Lab. 2021. https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race

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Addressing Justified Vaccine Hesitancy in the Black Community

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Addressing Justified Vaccine Hesitancy in the Black Community

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