The Black community might be more suspicious of a coronavirus vaccine coming from the Trump administration because of the Tuskegee experiments, ABC’s “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin suggested on Wednesday.
The Tuskegee Study, which was conducted for four decades on Black people, was a major violation of ethical standards as researchers knowingly failed to treat participants or inform them of the study’s purpose. Its revelation in 1972 led to a major revamp in U.S. law in order to protect participants in clinical studies.
Hostin made the remarks after cohost Whoopi Goldberg asked her if she had concerns about a vaccine, particularly one announced before the elections, as pointed out by the Daily Caller.
Hostin said the FDA might not be independent in any decision to approve such a vaccine, noting it was part of the executive branch, and there is evidence it has already been politicized.
“Are they going to make this vaccine available right before the election to make Donald Trump look good? Does Donald Trump really care about the safety of the vaccine or does he just want to make good on his promise to have the vaccine?”
She said this was especially concerning for the Black community, which has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and thus vitally needs the vaccine, but are "40% less likely to take that vaccine because they don’t have trust in it.”
Hostin then related that she spoke to a Black law school friend "and I said, ‘do you think you would take the vaccine if it became available?’ He said, ‘I got one word for you: Tuskegee,’ and that really, really just struck me to my core because remember, that’s 40 years of, you know, human trials on Black people.”