IMPH Executive Director Maya Pack recently spoke with WIS regarding IMPH’s COVID-19 Health Disparities Report, which examines the intersection of racism, race and ethnicity and social determinants of health and health outcomes.

There is nationwide concern that many minorities won’t seek out the coronavirus vaccine because of a lack of trust in the health care system.

Prisma Health family medicine physician Dr. Jaqui Jones says she’s often faced with questions like, “Can we trust it? Why is it happening so quickly? Who should get it first? Are you going to get it? What’s in it?”

Some of the skepticism surrounding the coronavirus vaccine is because of how quickly it became available, but Dr. Jones said, “This is not new technology. This is good technology, but it’s not new technology. It’s technology that scientists have been using for a long time to develop vaccines against viruses such as these.”

Other concerns are disproportionately reflected among minority communities and stem from a deep-rooted distrust in the American health care system.

“Particularly among the African-American community, there is hesitancy around the vaccine at a higher rate than in other populations,” said Maya Pack, the executive director of the South Carolina Institute of Medicine & Public Health.

Read the full story by Emily Scarlett here.