Jill Fisher, PhD, professor of social medicine, penned article for Truthout titled, “Inclusive Vaccine Trials Are Vital, But Let’s Not Boost Biological Views of Race.”
“The novel coronavirus and its devastating effects have starkly exposed U.S. racial and ethnic health disparities. Yet, despite ample evidence that health disparities are symptoms of social and economic inequalities resulting from a racist social system, narratives insisting on participation of marginalized people in clinical trials dangerously imply fundamental biological differences. Professional organizations, such as the American Medical Association, have taken the official stance that race and ethnicity are social constructs rather than discrete biological categories. Nonetheless, many COVID-19 researchers have attempted to increase the conventionally low levels of participation of people of color in clinical trials by implying inherent biological differences among racial and ethnic groups.”
Read the rest of this Truthout op-ed by Jill Fisher, PhD, professor in the UNC Department of Social Medicine.