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COVID-19 vaccine is a triumph over medicine's racist history

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Alfred Landecker Democracy Fellow Asha Shajahan wrote an opinion piece titled “COVID-19 vaccine is a triumph over medicine’s racist history” for The Detroit News. In the article, she outlines the development of the COVID-19 vaccination, grounding it in historical context. Throughout US history, race-based mistreatment in healthcare has existed and affected communities of color, particularly Black communities. This led to severe mistrust and anger from communities of color towards predominantly white healthcare professionals and medical researchers.

The development of the COVID-19 vaccination and its subsequent rollout in the United States, however, has served a step forward for Black communities to have more visibility in science and medicine. That said, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of eliminating healthcare inequities.

You can read Asha’s full piece here.

Asha is one of thirty Alfred Landecker Democracy Fellows. This fellowship, a collaboration between the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Humanity in Action, was created to strengthen a new generation of leaders whose approaches to political and social challenges can become catalysts for democratic placemaking and community building. Read more about the fellowship here.