Pitts: Skip the dance of mistrust and take the shot

To the contrary, from experimental procedures on the vaginas of enslaved women to grave robbers stealing Black bodies for use in medical schools, to forced sterilization in the name of eugenics, to studies revealing that white doctors think Black people feel less pain, to new mother Serena Williams having to battle doctors and nurses who ignored her as she suffered a life-threatening medical emergency, Black people have been routinely betrayed by this profession whose prime directive is, “First, do no harm.”

So the mistrust is grounded in hard experience.

I can speak to this at first hand. In recent years, I’ve lost a brother-in-law and a cousin after they declined to follow medical advice. Another brother-in-law has heart issues — and trusts his doctors about like he would a $4 bill.

I also have two sons and a grandson who refuse to take the COVID vaccine. I am scared to death for them.

Most of the public discussion of vaccine hesitancy is dominated by Republicans behaving badly, the clownish people who think vaccines will magnetize them or let Bill Gates track their movements. But beyond political party, race (along with age) has emerged as a major predictor of skepticism.

A recent Economist/YouGov poll found that less than half of Black and Hispanic adults have been fully vaccinated, compared with well over 60 percent of white ones.

And mistrust is a major reason, though not the only reason, for that disparity.

My boys and I, we do this dance. They give me their reasons for not getting the shot, I give them rebuttals.

It was developed too fast, they say. It’s called an emergency, I say; you get out of the house faster when it’s burning.

I don’t know what’s in it, they say. You don’t know what’s in Cheez Whiz, I say, but that doesn’t stop you from eating it.

There may be side effects to taking it, they say. Well, the side effect to not taking it could be death.

They nod and promise to think about it, but they don’t. It’s just a dance we do.

And while we dance, 616,000 Americans lie dead, a disproportionate number of them people of color.

There’s nothing wrong with skepticism. Skepticism can be healthy, can even save your life.

But skepticism can also make you blind. So this is me begging my sons and all our sons and daughters: Just take the damn shot.

Look around. People who’ve done that are not dying. People who haven’t are. That’s a fact.

Please don’t be so skeptical that you can’t see what might save your life. I’m not asking you to trust your doctor.

I am asking you to trust your eyes.