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THE WELL OR ILL-INFORMED AMERICAN WITH DR. PAMELA SIMMS-MACKEY
Surviving COVID-19 RESOURCE DIRECTORY
by Contributing Writer, Cheryl D Howard
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According to a CNN Health report dated February 4th, 2021, “More than half of Black adults in the US remain hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine and experts say new data underscores the need to prioritize equitable access and redouble efforts to build trust within communities.” Since February, it has been a continuous uphill battle for health care professionals to build trust in medical innovations and in the COVID-19 vaccine.
I recently had the privilege of speaking with one of those healthcare professionals, Dr. Pamela Simms-Mackey, Chair of Pediatrics with Alameda Health Systems in Oakland, California. Among a society of other Black physicians, Dr. Mackey is waging war against the disease (COVID-19) that is killing Black American adults at a higher rate than their White American counterparts. There are many complex reasons for those statistics; notwithstanding, saving lives is the bottom line.
Dr. Mackey and Alameda Health Systems have been promoting COVID-19 vaccination services for hospitals within the System’s community. Access has been extended to the elderly and homeless adult populations as well. As a career pediatrician, she is also knowledgeable of the CDC guidelines for administering the vaccine to children. Pfizer and Moderna were the first companies to gain FDA approval for emergency use. Pfizer is the only one available to those under the age of 18. Johnson and Johnson and Moderna are not releasing a vaccine for pediatrics as of yet. Last month, on March 15th, Pfizer recommended the COVID-19 vaccination for children as young as age 16 with certain eligible conditions. The Moderna vaccine, on the other hand, has been approved for young adults beginning at the age of 19. More recently, following a successful clinical trial, Pfizer requested FDA approval of their vaccine for the children 12 and up.
Dr. Mackey is adamant about the CDC guidelines for masks and social distancing continuing to be followed even if someone has been fully vaccinated. According to the American Board of Pediatrics, masks are not required of children ages 2 and under. Dr.
Mackey added that she is confident that babies and young children cannot generate large enough cough particles to be effective transmitters of an airborne disease, such as the coronavirus. According to the following article, children are not transmitters to a greater extent than adults (Rajmil, L accessed April 1st 2020).
On March 8, 2021, Dr. Simms-Mackey appeared as a guest panelist in a CNN anchor video with Journalist W. Kamau Bell. In the 4 minutes 57-second segment, the panel gave sound and intellectual answers to staggering questions surrounding the development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Mackey added a brilliant and knowledgeable perspective to the discussion. Misconceptions and misinformation about the vaccine, explicitly targeting a section of the African American adult community, were the main topics within the segment.
“I think specific to the African American community, there is a level of distrust for physicians because of the experiments and studies that have been done on African Americans without their consent,” said Dr. Mackey. All these reasons, and many more, have elicited significant resistance in receiving the vaccine. In having my ears planted in the community, a certain degree of validity for some resistances is found. There are misunderstandings about what has been done in the past. Past offenses where treatment for certain diseases or illnesses were withheld from “us,” whereas now, treatment is being aggressively offered. The census of the panel was to give correct and positive education about the vaccine.
“This is why I said yes to the project because we were giving people correct information so that hopefully, they could make a decision in their best interest once they had the correct information on which to base it off of,” said Dr. Mackey.
Dr. Pamela Simms-Mackey is a valued and respected leader in the Bay Area. The COVID-19 vaccination is a decision to be made by any American, and it will be just that, their decision. There is a wealth of education available through Dr. Mackey and other members of the scientific community, and it will be a well-informed decision.
Nonetheless, any ill-informed American further warrants indecisiveness. n
