Vaccine Activism and Race

The anti-vaccine movement suffered a blow this morning. The State Assembly passed a bill that makes it much harder for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children. The bill throws out the personal belief exemption. And one of the groups that was fighting it might be surprising. The Nation of Islam warned black legislators not to support it, even comparing mandatory vaccinations to the infamous Tuskegee experiment, in which doctors withheld syphilis treatment from hundreds of black men in the name of medical research. Why are they taking this stance?

Credits

Guest:

  • Thomas LaVeist - Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions