Racism and Public Health

Almost half of Black American adults say they’ll pass on a COVID-19 vaccine even if it were free and deemed safe, according to a new poll from 

Joseph Gallien has seen it all this year. The 31-year-old Black physician has had COVID-19, treated patients with it in top-notch New York City hospitals and his less-resourced hometown hospital in Louisiana, which was hit by Hurricane Laura. All as a reckoning with race …

There's clear consensus that racial equity is key to COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Now, the debate is how to best achieve that.     

Public Health Takeaways from a Shambolic First Presidential Debate The lack of handshakes—a COVID-19 prevention measure—was perhaps the most civil thing about the first presidential debate. “That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck.” Thank you for…

Under pressure to ensure inclusion, COVID-19 vaccine trials are “face to face with health care’s deepest fault lines,” write Eric Boodman.   People of color often mistrust the medical system because of racism past and present—and they are less likely to have health…

American Indians and Alaska Natives have been found to be 

The coronavirus’s disproportionate impact on Hispanic, Black and American Indian adults is mirrored in children and youths, according to a CDC report released yesterday.

For decades, the number of Black students pursuing STEM degrees in the US was on the rise and expected to stay that way—but progress is reversing.  

Urban “safety net hospitals” in the US are still closing in alarming numbers, even as the communities they serve—predominantly the poor and people of color—are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.   Unlike rural facilities—which have been shuttering at a shocking pace…

When it comes to health, ZIP codes may even be a more accurate predictor of health than genetics, gender, or lifestyle habits—especially for Black women.   In cities like Atlanta and Baltimore, neighborhoods just a few miles apart can have a 20-year difference in life…