Black People Are More Hesitant About A Vaccine. A Leading Nurse Wants To Change That - NPR

Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, is taking part in a Moderna coronavirus vaccine trial.

Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, is taking part in a Moderna coronavirus vaccine trial.

Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, says it relates to a history of abuses.

Grant, who is Black, is participating in a long-term trial of the Moderna vaccine?

It's "important that we get a whole rainbow of colors of people, if you will, to participate in these trials so that we can say that we know for certain in communities of color that these vaccines are just as effective as they are in the white population," he says.

And I think also having people in authoritative positions, such as maybe a pastor or Black doctors and nurses actually seeing them take the injection, those are some of the ways that we can help to convince communities of color that, you know, they really need to not have a fear of these vaccines.

Certainly, I think between both the Pfizer and the Moderna, the numbers that I'm hearing of people of color that they had in their clinical trials, yes, I think that is enough to to go forward and begin to administer the vaccine.

But, yes, based on the numbers of Pfizer and Moderna, I believe that there is enough Black and people of color participation that we can move forward and say that this is safe.