Page 6 The Skanner Portland & Seattle January 13, 2021
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Interview
cont’d from pg 5
able coronaviruses vac-
cinations, overturning
the Trump administra-
tion’s plan to reserve half
of the available doses.
But only 26% of the
vaccines distributed to
Oregon have been ad-
ministered, according to
the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC). Gov. Kate Brown
has told the Oregon
Health Authority to meet
a goal of 12,000 vaccina-
tions a day statewide.
(For up-to-date informa-
tion on statewide vacci-
nations, visit the Oregon
Health Authority dash-
board here: https://pub-
lic.tableau.com/profile/
oregon.health.authori-
ty.covid.19#!/vizhome/
OregonCOVID-19Vacci-
nationTrends/Oregon-
StatewideVaccination-
Trends).
Myth: The Vaccine
Gives You Coronavirus
& Changes Your DNA
“Usually, vaccines are
made from either live or
very weakened viruses
to encourage the body
to develop antibodies to
them, which then leads to
immunity to those virus-
es,” Anderson said. But
neither the Moderna nor
the Pfizer vaccines con-
tain a live virus. Instead,
they use the emerging
technology of messenger
RNA (or mRNA).
“The mRNA vaccine en-
codes the protein spike
of the virus, which will
not cause the disease.
When given it is insert-
ed into cells in lymph
nodes near the injection
site to trigger immune
response and create anti-
bodies to fight infection,”
Anderson explained.
At no point is the coro-
navirus itself introduced
through the vaccine. The
messenger RNA does not
enter the cell nucleus,
where DNA is kept. Be-
cause of this, the vaccine
does not in any way im-
pact or interact with ge-
netic material.
“It does enter the cells,
and in that sense, it caus-
es the cell to in fact stim-
ulate antibodies to the vi-
rus. It certainly changes
the cells so that they’re
able to better protect
themselves and to help to
develop antibodies to the
virus.”
Myth: It Was Developed
Too Fast
“I certainly am hearing
people who are skeptical
about the time it’s taken
to develop the vaccine,”
Anderson said. “Usually
vaccines take five to 20
years to manufacture, to
get right.
The thing is we have
had an increase in tech-
nology over time, which
has shortened the time
period. And I think that
that will continue. I think
we will continue to see
that, as new technologies
emerge in the future.”
Anderson points out
that vaccines rapidly de-
veloped in response to
pandemics are, in fact,
written into U.S. public
policy.
“We do have a pandem-
ic plan that was actually
put into place in 2005,
right after the SARS ep-
idemic. And that was
put in place by the ad-
ministration of George
W Bush. Certainly the
Obama administration
updated it, and put it into
effect around H1N1 and
also Ebola.”
The global magnitude,
speed, and fatality rate
of COVID-19 made it a top
research priority, and
this urgency has meant
unprecedented financial
and scientific resources
have been devoted to de-
veloping a vaccine, tap-
ping into the expertise of
public, private, and top
educational institutions
worldwide.
Similarly, the flu vac-
cine is refined each year
based on predictions of
which strains are most
likely to emerge.
Fighting Distrust
Public health officials
must grapple with the
history of medical rac-
ism in the U.S., ranging
from White providers’
often institutionalized
racial biases and misun-
derstanding of pain tol-
erance in Black patients,
to violent medical exper-
“
Anderson reported he
had the Moderna vac-
cine.
“People have to realize
that the people that are
taking care of them in the
hospitals are taking the
vaccine -- I just had mine
last week,” he said. “So if
we’re still here, it can’t be
that bad.
People have to realize that
the people that are taking
care of them in the hospitals
are taking the vaccine
imentation performed
on Black bodies without
consent and often with-
out knowledge.
“We tend to do things
to people and not with
people,” Anderson said.
“And that has been the
problem in the past.”
A report co-authored
by the NAACP found that
Black respondents who
knew of the Tuskegee
Syphilis study were sig-
nificantly less likely to
opt for the vaccine, and
that only 14% of Black
Americans
surveyed
trusted the vaccine was
safe, and only 18% trust-
ed it was effective.
It also found that Black
Americans were twice as
likely to trust messaging
from someone of their
own racial or ethnic
group.
“I think that they ought
to know that the data has
been peer-reviewed, by
individuals who look
like them. Also, I think it
would be beneficial for a
lot of doctors and nurses
of color to certainly be
the leaders in trying to
get people vaccinated. I
think that this is a great
time for the (Historically
Black Colleges and Uni-
versities) to tout the ex-
pertise of the graduates,
and to try to mobilize
those individuals to en-
courage individuals of
color to be vaccinated.”
Still, Anderson be-
lieves the best approach
is for local organizations
to identify vaccine-relat-
ed apprehension within
their respective commu-
nities.
“There are some things
that might be univer-
sal, but I think the mes-
saging has to be local,”
Anderson said. “It’s just
psychology. All politics
is local. Well, so is health-
care.”
Vaccination is volun-
tary, and Anderson urg-
es similar consideration
when talking with people
about their fears.
“I think that we do it
conversation by conver-
sation,” he said. “That
we tell the truth, and we
keep telling the truth.
We try to have a conver-
sation with anybody who
wants to have a conversa-
tion with us, and the sec-
ond part is important.
“I just ask, ‘Do you
plan to take the vaccine?’
We’re just having a con-
versation. So if I’m an
Uber, I’m having a con-
versation with the Uber
driver. I’m not trying to
convince him so much
as I’m trying to listen to
why or why not he’s go-
ing to have the vaccine.
I’m really listening to
their explanations.”
Anderson offers a nov-
el suggestion for demys-
tifying the shot.
“I’ve also said that per-
haps the one personal
thing that everybody can
do is when they get their
vaccine, to post a screen-
shot on social media, and
to have a conversation,”
he said.