threats

FOUR QUESTIONS FOR Drs. Laura Byerly and Louis Picker

Two doctors provide the last signatures before Oregonians get a COVID-19 vaccine.

BY RACHEL MONAHAN rmonahan@wweek.com

On Dec. 4, the Oregon Health Authority requested 15,600 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government. It’s the job of two doctors to assure Oregonians the shots are safe.

Dr. Louis Picker, an Oregon Health & Science University professor who has worked on an HIV vaccine, and Dr. Laura Byerly, medical director of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, are the two experts Gov. Kate Brown appointed last week to review safety data for any COVID-19 vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

They join a panel of experts from four Western states—California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington—who are looking to provide another level of assurance to the public in a politically tumultuous moment.

For some Oregonians, the vaccine is inextricably linked to election-year partisan politics. President Donald Trump pledged a COVID vaccine would arrive before Election Day thanks to “Operation Warp Speed.” It didn’t, and he lost. But people on both sides of the aisle still view the vaccine with greater skepticism. And the panel of experts will review the approvals provided by the Trump administration.

WW asked the doctors why we should trust them—and the vaccine.

Dr. Louis Picker WW: Why would the governor choose you?

Picker: I am not actively engaged in COVID-19 vaccine development, but I’m very familiar with the vaccines that are being developed, mainly because the vaccine backbones that are used—many were originally developed for HIV.

We’ve had decades to develop a vaccine for HIV and we don’t have one, and yet we have one within a year for COVID-19. Can you explain that?

It’s actually quite easy to explain. The immune systems of humans aren’t able to clear HIV. They never get rid of it. Getting an HIV vaccine requires us to develop a vaccine that elicits an immune response that is better than nature. That’s not true for COVID-19. It very clearly is controlled by the immune system.

Would you take the vaccine in the next few weeks if you were a frontline doctor?

Absolutely. I’d put my arm out right now—I mean, if it’s approved, and I expect it will be.

So will COVID research help in the development of HIV and tuberculosis vaccines?

What I hope happens is that the COVID example shows what can be done. I hope what this does is supercharge [the] imperative to say that was last century’s pandemic, that’s still here. We need to get rid of it. And we need to get rid of tuberculosis, which is an age-old pandemic that still has killed more people this year than COVID.

Dr. Laura Byerly WW: Why would the governor choose you?

Byerly: I am there as a person who’s been giving vaccines to a vulnerable community for a long time. So I’m hoping to [be a] bridge—to say, “Yes, we can trust what’s happening.”

Would you take the vaccine?

I am feeling much better than I would have a couple months ago. I feel like there’s transparency. When things are getting glitched, we’re hearing about it.

Why does it give you faith that there have been glitches?

What was worrisome about the vaccine timeline being pushed and politicized was that things would be swept under the rug. And it appears that dumb mistakes are coming out. Having all of that out in the open just makes me feel like, well, I think that there’s not that many bad things happening in the time frame we have to work with.

What else should people know about vaccines that they don’t?

Getting a vaccine is always an expression of brotherly love. It’s always a slight risk to one’s own self to be part of a larger community, to keep the whole community healthy.

I would say, show that love one way or another—either wear your mask, avoid doing things that could expose another of your humans to coronavirus, or get a vaccine as a way to do that.

That piece of our interactions is getting really squelched lately. Do it for each other. Rachel Monahan reported this story with the support of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, a program of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2020 National Fellowship.

PRIMER The Kill List

Here’s why prominent Black activists say they fear opening their mailboxes.

On Dec. 7, all five members of Portland City Council released a joint statement condemning hate mail and death threats against Black activists. “They received the threats because of their work towards a more equitable city and because they are Black,” the statement read. “The threats are abhorrent and disgusting and stand against our values.”

For some Portlanders, the statement might seem baffling. What’s it responding to? But for people at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, the words felt long overdue. Here’s the background.

Who received the threats?

Kamelah Adams, the owner of Portland apparel company Mimi’s Fresh Tees, says she has received a total of four hate letters this year: two in July and two in November.

The most recent one, which she reported Dec. 3, included six names on a “kill list.” All the names were of progressive Black leaders who received media coverage during this summer’s racial justice protests.

Candace Avalos is a student adviser at Portland State University who ran for City Council in May and now chairs the city’s charter review commission. Avalos says she found hate mail in her mailbox twice in November. The second letter, received within a week of the first, contained a kill list of 20 names, including the six on the list Adams received.

Activist and community organizer Cameron Whitten, who is Black, says a letter without names was addressed to him back in October in an envelope that contained a powdery substance. He says it was intercepted by the FBI before it could reach his home.

How and in what form did they receive them?

Both Adams and Avalos say they found the letters in their mailboxes. Adams tells WW all the letters have similar handwriting. “It’s very traumatizing,” she says. “I should not have a reaction to checking my mailbox. That’s not a way to live.”

What do the recipients have in common?

Each person on the six-name kill list is Black, and all have been leaders in the Black Lives Matter protests.

“I don’t think we all have the same message,” Avalos says. “We are all addressing the same issues affecting our community. The goal of the person who is harassing us is to point out that Black people have a voice and have something to say about our Black communities.”

Who’s investigating?

The Portland Police Bureau says it is investigating. Police began looking into Kamelah’s case in July and then reached out to other letter recipients to open another investigation on the more recent letters in November, a few days after they were reported.

“Portland police have taken reports from individuals who received threatening letters.

ALARMED: Kamelah Adams is one of three Portlanders who say they’ve received death threats in the mail.

Investigators do not have new information to release,” Lt. Greg Pashley, a bureau spokesman, tells WW in an email.

Mayor Ted Wheeler issued public statements on Twitter a few days after the letters were posted on social media in July and December. He pledged to assist Portlanders who had been targeted by hate mail. Last month, he received intense criticism for not contacting a majority of people on the lists. In a text message exchange with activist Jake Dockter on Nov. 23, Mayor Wheeler wrote, “I didn’t mean to give the impression that I am personally going to call 100 people on the list.”

What do the letter recipients want City Hall to do?

Adams says she wants officials to recognize the trauma caused by the letters and how it impacts victims’ loved ones. Her family and children are in counseling to process the trauma these letters have inflicted.

“I need City Council to denounce racism and take this matter very seriously,” Adams says. “We can’t just ignore this. I need City Council to focus on the trauma and how this impacts our lives. We need transparency and we need updates.”

Avalos had called for a joint statement several days before the council issued one. She says officials should “give plans on how to help and protect the Black community from harassment.”

Whitten wants stronger protections against doxxing—the posting of private information online to harass and harm.“We need to have another emergency town hall for our BLM activists so they can have a space to hear from hate crime experts,” Whitten says.

Avalos says it’s difficult for her to imagine City Hall addressing the problem—since the Police Bureau has repeatedly used force on the activists whose harassment officials have condemned.

“How can they keep us safe? That is the ultimate question we’ve been asking,” Avalos says. “I want them to be transparent about these questions and come up with real solutions.” LATISHA JENSEN.