Watch Now: Pastor, infectious disease expert partner for videos to address vaccine hesitancy

Rev. Robert Turner’s grandmother wasn’t born in a hospital. Nor was his father.

Segregation kept generations of African-Americans from being delivered in medical facilities. So, Turner said, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is derived earnestly, not just from the reprehensible syphilis experiments on Black people in Tuskegee, but from lifetimes without hospital care or oppressive care in rare instances when care was sought.

Turner, pastor of Vernon AME Church, wants to help show how the COVID-19 vaccine effort is different by partnering with Dr. Anuj Malik, an infectious disease specialist for Ascension St. John. The pair filmed several 30- and 60-second videos Thursday to be posted to social media soon and a spot to air on prime-time TV beginning in May to address vaccine hesitancy and other health concerns in the Black community.

“Just horrific stories that people have found out about and passed down orally in our community that there is an imbedded sense of, ‘I can do without because we’ve always done without,’” Turner said Friday of why skepticism is “grounded in reality” among Black people. “And the time that we went, terrible things happened.”

Areas north of Interstate 244, comprising largely non-white and Hispanic residents, lag others on percentage of residents by ZIP code who have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine — 10% to 20% compared to 40% to 50% in the highest-vaccinated ZIP codes in the city, according to state data as of April 5 analyzed by the Tulsa World.

Turner said he would be a top skeptic if the COVID-19 vaccines were applied by ethnicity or geographic location. However, he said, the vaccines were tested globally and are being deployed globally.

He said the rollout is creating unparalleled access to the vaccines — for free — that people need to take advantage of.

Turner said he understands vaccination is a personal choice, but that personal choice wields public consequences.

“Yes, it is your right, but please know that your right and your choice has direct consequences,” Turner said. “And it’s not a consequence of somebody passing along a common cold or a headache, you could pass along something that could end people’s lives.

“So get the vaccine. If you don’t get it for yourself, get it for somebody else. But get it.”

St. John also is looking to develop pop-up clinics in Black communities featuring Turner as a trusted resource to help persuade people to be immunized.

Malik explained that the COVID-19 vaccines are part of the most extensive monitoring program of any pharmaceutical launch in world history.

He said there are active and passive surveillance systems, a smartphone app and a registry for pregnant women.

“There are no safety signals coming out now and are unlikely to come out after six weeks because in the history of vaccines — vaccinology — any really bad side effects typically happen within the first six weeks,” Malik said. “I think 180 million doses have been given so far, almost 200 million, and we haven’t seen any safety signals yet.

“All of them are comparable to the placebo and all of them are consistent with what we found in the clinical trials.”

Tulsa and Oklahoma saw important news last week from the federal government to try to equalize the vaccination playing field.

The CDC on Tuesday announced an award of $36 million to the state to support local work to increase vaccine uptake, equity and access among populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

The White House announced Friday that Tulsa Community College Northeast Campus will host a mass vaccination clinic starting April 21 that will be able to do up to 3,000 shots per day, seven days a week for up to eight weeks.

Reggie Ivey, chief operating officer of the Tulsa Health Department, said the federal efforts are a boon to help provide strong outreach to those who live in north Tulsa, as well as minorities and underserved throughout the county.

“We’re really excited about that particular clinic coming to an area that needs it most,” Ivey said.

Ivey said that African-Americans ages 16 and older comprise 11.2% of Tulsa County’s population, but only 4% have received the vaccine, according to state data as of April 1.

The TCC Northeast Campus is in the 74115 ZIP code, which is in the middle of a large swath of ZIP codes with only 10% to 20% of residents who have received one dose of vaccine.

Ivey said THD has made pandemic outreach efforts in minority communities, starting last spring with testing access.

More recently, he said, THD set up phone banks at four different churches in north Tulsa to allow people to sign up who were unable to use or access the state’s online vaccine portal. It also launched its own vaccine appointment platform in English and Spanish as an alternative to the state one.

Ivey said THD’s Oklahoma Caring Van has been partnering with churches and organizations to bring vaccine directly to African-American, Latinx and Burmese communities.

The Health Department has administered 3,000 vaccinations from its clinic in north Tulsa since March 8.

He said THD has worked with churches and university systems to conduct webinars or Zoom presentations to offer accurate information about the vaccines. Minorities in health care positions or faith-based leaders also have helped spread THD’s messaging.

“Hesitancy regarding vaccines is not uncommon among minority populations unfortunately because of mistrust of government, mistrust of the medical system,” Ivey said. “Minority populations are very careful about vaccines, and we have a long history of mistrust that those of us who work in public health are trying to address.”

World staff writer Curtis Killman contributed to this report.

Malik and Turner urge the public to get vaccinated