JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As of Tuesday, Duval County has vaccinated over 83,000 people. Of that number, only about 11% were Black.
“The majority of the vaccines were given in white neighborhoods not in the Black neighborhoods, and that’s why there’s a difference," said Rose Wilson of Duval County.
However, some are also concerned about the safety of the vaccine, especially with the speed that pharmaceutical companies produced the vaccine. However, doctors in minority communities are hoping that residents will trust them that the vaccine is indeed safe.
“I tell them, 'Yes,' and I let them know that I believe in it so much that not only am I asking my patients to do it, but I’ve taken it myself, also my family members," said Primary Care Physician Dr. Roger Cain.
However, Querisha Lane, a Duval County resident, said is not a supporter of vaccines, especially how rapid the COVID-19 vaccines came out.
“I just don’t feel like they have tested it and really know how it’s going to affect us long term, medically because there’s so many things with vaccines already in our community," Lane explained. "No one’s talking about building our immune systems, no one is talking about making a healthier body so that we can fight any other pandemic that comes along."
Dr. Cain said the speed of the vaccine's production is due to the technological advancement in the medical field.
“It takes 5-10 years for this to happen, usually, but this process has been started almost ten years ago, in terms of how the vaccine is created right now with the messenger RNA," Dr. Cain explained.
Dr. Cain is also a part of the NAACP Jacksonville Branch and Northeast Florida Medical Society, who have been working together to answer more Covid vaccine questions.