MS Coast doctor shares why he got the COVID-19 vaccine so others will too
Dr. Alfred McNair has a message for Black Mississippians who aren’t certain they can trust the the COVID-19 vaccines: “This is not Tuskegee. This is entirely different.”
McNair, a gastroenterologist in Ocean Springs, got the Moderna vaccine two weeks ago. On Tuesday, he participated in a Zoom event with colleagues from around the state, in which five African American doctors received the Moderna vaccine live on camera in Jackson. McNair and other doctors attended virtually.
The event, hosted by the Mississippi State Medical Association and the state health department, was intended to help build trust in the vaccine among Black residents. So far, only 17% of the people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi are Black, though about 38% of state residents are Black. That statistic in part reflects Black Americans’ lower rates of trust in the vaccine, identified in nationwide surveys.
The discrepancy worries McNair, especially because Black Mississippians have been affected disproportionately by COVID-19, suffering 44% of the deaths in the state.
“We lost so many people early on with this virus,” he said. “We were the ones dying.”
The roots of Black Americans’ mistrust of the vaccine are centuries-deep. Most famously, as McNair pointed out, Tuskegee Study researchers followed hundreds of Black Alabama men with syphilis for decades, without telling them of the diagnosis or providing treatment.
Dr. Andrea Phillips, a family medicine specialist in Jackson who received the vaccine on camera Monday, also described the story of Henrietta Lacks. Lacks, a Black woman in Maryland, was treated for cervical cancer at a Baltimore hospital in 1951. She died a few months later, not knowing that her cells had been collected and would be sold and used all over the world, thanks to their remarkable ability to grow indefinitely.
“There are stories out there in the community that cause a lot of mistrust,” Phillips said.
Reviewing the vaccine science
McNair sees current health inequities as contributing to mistrust of the medical system. Black Mississippians are more likely than white Mississippians to suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes. Inadequate care and limited access to medical services worsens those conditions and leaves patients frustrated, McNair said.
“It creates a lot of distrust and just worry,” he said. “’What are people doing? Are they trying to help me or hurt me?’”
McNair said the data from clinical trials persuaded him the vaccine was safe. The short-term side effects are mild, including tenderness at the injection site and sometimes fever and tiredness.
Since the vaccine is so new, there’s no long-term data to evaluate, and it’s the first mRNA vaccine used in humans. But doctors say serious side effects typically occur soon after a vaccine is administered. And contrary to internet theories, scientists say mRNA cannot alter genetic code.
The doctor has his own reasons to be concerned about COVID. His accountant was hospitalized with the virus and nearly died. His 14-year-old granddaughter who contracted COVID-19 was sick for months and still isn’t completely better.
He also has many patients who have lost family members to the pandemic.
“It’s personal, as well as for all my patients. I’m concerned,” he said.
Even if a patient he sees has recently tested negative for COVID, he can never be sure there’s no risk of infection: false negatives are common, or they could have contracted the virus just before taking the test, or afterward.
So McNair was excited to get the vaccine. Since he’s right-handed, he got it in his left arm in case the shot made him sore. The tenderness subsided in a day.
He’ll get the second shot on Jan. 19.
Now, he’s talking with patients and fellow medical workers about his experience with the vaccine. Some of them have been persuaded to get vaccinated. He hopes that message will resonate broadly.
“At least if we’re willing to do it and feel safe about it, I think a lot of people will say, ‘That’s probably OK,’” McNair said.
Correction: This article originally misstated the nature of the Tuskegee Study’s ethical violations. Black male patients who already had syphilis were denied diagnosis and treatment for decades. They were not infected by researchers.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
