We Must Convince Skeptical Persons of Color to Accept the Vaccine

LYNN — Dr. Kiame Mahaniah scanned the crowd of people already congregating in the Lynn Tech Field House last Friday morning to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots. “There’s more diversity today,” said the CEO of the Lynn Community Health Center, which, in partnership with the city of Lynn and other agencies, is dispensing the shots at the spacious Tech gym for Lynn and Nahant residents. “There hasn’t been much diversity in the last few days. Mostly white people.” And that, Dr. Mahaniah said, is a problem that goes much deeper than you may think. He uses his own agency as an example. Ninety-seven percent of the LCHC doctors have been vaccinated, he said, and of that group, about 75 percent of them are white. However, of the receptionists and other workers at the agency, who are more representative of the city’s demographics, only 54 percent have been vaccinated. Of the staff represented, 60 percent are people of color. This is a troubling statistic, Dr. Mahaniah said. “First,” he said, “These are people in the health industry, and they are skeptical about this vaccine. “Second, it’s not necessarily the vaccine they’re skeptical about, but just the system itself,” he said. “If you don’t trust law enforcement, politicians, or if you don’t speak English and have another barrier put before you, you’re always facing obstacles. They see racism everywhere, and now people are telling them, ‘There’s no racism involved in this,’ when they’re being persuaded to be among the first to receive this. They’re skeptical. ...