| dc.description.abstract | In the U.S., African Americans are overwhelmed by the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice which gravely harms their communities, families, and their personal mental and physical health outcomes. Although vaccines are available to build immunity to the SARS-CoV2 virus and mitigate side effects if contracted, many African Americans remain vaccine hesitant. Vaccine hesitancy is defined as a “delay in acceptance or refusal of safe vaccines despite availability of vaccine services” (Razai et al., 2021). To explore this striking juxtaposition of higher contraction rates and lower vaccination uptake, this study uses qualitative interviews with African Americans in the South to understand how societal factors may contribute to vaccine-related concerns and vaccine hesitancy among this population. From these interviews, themes about vaccine safety, mistrust, community, and blame arose. Despite vaccine hesitancy and what the media may portray, African Americans recognize the virus as a serious devastation and are taking the proper precautions of masking and social distancing even though they are not vaccinated. To conclude, I propose evidence-based recommendations for policy and governmental leaders to implement immediately in order to prevent another generation of health disparities because of a lack of a COVID-19 vaccination. | en_US |
