Biden Sends Vaccine Clinics to Black Barber Shops. Good!
I don’t have a sophisticated take here, especially about the topics I’ll be discussing today, which is vaccine hesitancy and distrust of medicine in Black Americans. But, upon seeing one of Biden’s proposed policies for boosting vaccine acceptance, I was reminded of an anecdote from my healthcare career that might be of interest to readers. So here’s food for thought, a fragment, on how to build faith in medicine.
Biden’s administration will set up pop-up vaccination clinics in Black barbershops. This reminded me of something. While working for Epic, a major healthcare software company, I saw a talk by a Black advocate (maybe a nurse; this was three years ago so I don’t remember all details) who had set up a primary care clinic in a Black barbershop in Madison, Wisconsin. The clinic would allow patrons of the salon, now patients, to come get their blood pressure checked, get nutritionist advice, do a basic physical. It was quite successful: I don’t know the numbers, but given this advocate was talking at Epic, an important institution in healthcare, it’s clear he was able to serve Black people skeptical of medicine.
As such, I think that Biden’s idea is really stellar, and I praise it! I won’t get into the details, like the history of Black barber shops as social communities (which I frankly don’t know), or how we should address vaccine hesitancy among Black people, or if we can repurpose this solution to assuage vaccine hesitancy among White evangelicals. But I think this a small, smart, and creative step to save Black lives.
P.S.
When I write, I do like to add value for my readers, and I like to be clear about the value I hope to add. Sometimes, I can synthesize arguments and evidence, sometimes I can tell personal stories, sometimes I can point out something silly and entertaining, and sometimes I just have a little anecdote that might prove useful for someone.