Greater Cultural Competence Needed to Encourage Vaccinations

“An earned mistrust.” That’s the way with which many Black people view the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a physician interviewed for a recent article headlined “Black leaders, residents want culturally competent messaging on COVID-19 vaccine for communities harboring distrust.” 

Better cultural competence is needed to encourage Blacks and other people of color to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Black leaders and other Northeast Ohio residents told the Akron Beacon Journal.

NEOMED graduate Carl Allamby, M.D. (’19), a resident in the Emergency Department of Cleveland Clinic Akron General, told the Beacon Journal that health care providers need to empathize with their patients to communicate, ‘Hey, we want you to have this. We see this as a potentially life-saving vaccination and a way for us to bring better health to your community.’” 

Amy Lee, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., a professor of Family and Community Medicine, suggested that Summit County invite “regular residents,” along with community leaders, to contribute their “very, very good ideas” about reaching their fellow community members. 

Read the Akron Beacon Journal article.