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Black Physicians Set Record Straight on Safety, Value of COVID-19 Vaccine

Published

5 years ago

December 23, 2020

Kiki

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet and interview Dr. Mark Finch on the Health Beat TV show on Channel 78. ,

Highly experienced and world-traveled, Finch is one of the few African American infectious disease specialist in the Bay Area. Finch and I have worked in the hospital together caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients.

I asked Finch the questions often posed by my patients about the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna that were recently given emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to Finch and his research from the Centers for Disease Control, the responses are as follows;

1) The COVID-19 vaccine will not give you the disease COVID-19. It allows you to develop an immune response without getting sick from COVID-19.

2) The COVID-19 vaccine will help prevent you from getting COVID-19 (The vaccine is proven to be 95% effective).

3) Although washing hands, social distancing and wearing masks are helpful, they are not enough. The vaccine will work with your immune system to fight the virus if you are exposed to it.

Vice Admiral and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams and nurse Sandra Lindsay, both African American, are among the first Americans to publicly take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Leon McDougle, president of the National Medical Association, writes that “nationally, Black people are 1.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 , 4.7 times more likely to require hospitalization and 2.8 times more likely to die than whites from COVID-19 .

The National Medical Association has developed a task force to ensure that Black people are not left out of the vaccine distribution and vaccination process.

As an African American physician on the front line, and member and previous president of the NMA state chapter, I have always strived for the health and well-being of our people.

I am exposed to the virus daily and so many of you are as well.

I want to protect my children, family, patients and community. That’s why I took the vaccine and I’m glad I did it!

Remember always that your health is your wealth and when you have your health you have everything.”

For more information on COVID-19 and African Americans watch the Health Beat show Channel 78 and HeathbeatTV, you-tube) and go to blackcoalitionagainstcovid.org.

“If you knew better you could do better.”

Kiki

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Oakland Post: Week of July 2- 8, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

Published

6 days ago

July 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Trump Set to Sign Largest Cut to Medicaid After a Marathon Protest Speech by Leader Jeffries

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S.

Published

1 week ago

July 3, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

By a vote of 218 to 214, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed President Trump’s massive budget and spending bill that will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S. With $175 billion allocated in spending for immigration enforcement, the money for more police officers eclipsed the 2026 budget for the U.S. Marines, which is $57 billion. Almost all of the policy focus from the Trump Administration has focused on deporting immigrants of color from Mexico and Haiti.

The vote occurred as members were pressed to complete their work before the arbitrary deadline of the July 4 holiday set by President Trump. It also occurred after Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the House floor for over 8 hours in protest. Leader Jeffries broke the record in the U.S. House for the longest floor speech in history on the House floor. The Senate passed the bill days before and was tied at 50-50, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “my hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.” There were no changes made to the Senate bill by the House. A series of overnight phone calls to Republicans voting against, not changes, was what won over enough Republicans to pass the legislation, even though it adds trillions to the debt. The Trump spending bill also cuts money to Pell grants.

“The Big Ugly Bill steals food out of the hands of starving children, steals medicine from the cabinets of cancer patients, and equips ICE with more funding and more weapons of war than the United States Marine Corps. Is there any question of who those agents will be going to war for, or who they will be going to war against? Beyond these sadistic provisions, Republicans just voted nearly unanimously to close urban and rural hospitals, cripple the child tax credit, and to top it all off, add $3.3 trillion to the ticking time bomb that is the federal deficit – all from a party that embarrassingly pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility and lowering costs,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in a statement on July 3.

“The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 17 million people will lose their health insurance, including over 322,000 Virginians. It will make college less affordable. Three million people will lose access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And up to 16 million students could lose access to free school meals. The Republican bill does all of this to fund tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations,” wrote Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in a statement. The bill’s passage has prompted Democrats to start thinking about 2026 and the next election cycle. With the margins of victory in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate being so narrow, many are convinced that the balance of power and the question of millions being able to enjoy health care come down to only several thousand votes in congressional elections. But currently, Republicans controlled by the MAGA movement control all three branches of government. That reality was never made more stark and more clear than the last seven days of activity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.