NARRATOR: Make the choice to begin anywhere in your life, and the journey has started.

And along the way, be inspired.

Listen to the stories by joining the President of Howard University, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick on "The Journey."

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a significant and disproportionate toll on communities of color.

To move past the pandemic and secure our community from its devastating effects, we must do what is necessary to protect ourselves and others.

When the time comes, men and women of color have to get vaccinated.

Not only are the approved vaccines safe, but they have also proven to be more than 90% effective.

While we must continue to keep our social distance, wear a mask, and wash our hands for 20 seconds, nothing will help put an end to the pandemic like getting the vaccine.

Today I'll be speaking with two leaders at Howard University Hospital about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Hello, my name is Dr. Wayne Frederick, and my guests today on "The Journey" are Dr. Maureen Bell, the Chair of Emergency Medicine at Howard University Hospital, and Roy Dunlap, the Director of Environmental and Guest Services at Howard University hospital.

So welcome to both of you.

And Dr. Bell is joining us by Skype.

I'll start with you, Dr. Bell.

Maybe you could describe what it has been like working in the emergency room during the pandemic.

Some people describe it almost as being in a war zone at times with the surgeons and so on.

What has it been like and what is it like today?

Good morning, Dr. Frederick, and thank you for having me.

The coronavirus pandemic has been like nothing I've experienced in my medical career.

I mean, I am an emergency medicine physician, we're trained for disasters, but seeing patients impacted for such a prolonged period and dealing with this for such a prolonged period is something that as emergency physicians we've not had to deal with before.

And the difficulty with this is that we're seeing patients of all ages.

We are seeing patients we don't know, we're seeing patients who are our colleagues our family members, so it's been a tough time.

And Mr. Dunlap, obviously you oversee workers who are often overlooked but are so essential to what we do.

They are on the front lines.

They actually are getting exposed to patients they may not even realize have COVID as they move around the institution.

What has it been like and how apprehensive have your workers been about contracting the virus?

Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. Frederick, for having me on to talk about this.

In the early stages, it was really tough for our department, because a lot of people didn't know really what's going on with COVID-19, so my department took a great hit where people was quitting.

People didn't wanna go and clean the room.

Obviously you can't work here if you can't clean the room.

And a percentage of my staff got the COVID-19s.

So at the beginning or early stages, it was tough.

And then it was tough to hire people because the first thing I say, we have to clean COVID-19 rooms.

And once I say that, people say no thank you to the job.

So it was pretty tough, and the staff is still taking a hit as we speak.

And over time, what has changed in terms of gaining their confidence?

Have you changed protocols in such a way that they feel safer?

Have they been comfortable with the PPE that we've been able to supply?

What do you think has improved over time as you've gained experience with this?

Well, I think our veterans is the ones who's been here for the long time, they've been through a bunch of stages.

So, the veterans who stuck it out are the ones who've shown the strength and are showing that we can combat the COVID-19.

And we've been through this before with other diseases before.

And you know, as well, I took the vaccine, so that kind of helped pave the way, because a lot of my staff now see that they need to take the vaccine, too.

So, it kind of helped, too, to be a leader, to take the vaccine and show them the proof and say, hey, guys, we have something that's gonna be curable they're saying when you go into clean this room.

And Dr. Bell, people coming into the emergency room, as you are interacting and engaging with them, trying to figure out how they may have contracted the virus et cetera, what are you seeing in terms of mask wearing?

Are people socially distancing?

Are people taking it as seriously as we would like them to?

So I don't think that is being done consistently.

And one of the things that's unfortunate is we frequently see patients who have been serious about taking precautions.

We see elderly patients who have been staying at home wearing a mask, limiting interactions.

But they're still interacting with other family members who drop off their groceries or who come in to check on them.

And so when they come in with symptoms of COVID and we're trying to figure out, okay, how could you have contracted COVID-19?

And what we see is that the person who I'm treating is not the person who was out there in the community without a mask or not socially distancing, they're just the one who became ill enough to have to come to the hospital and have to be hospitalized.

And then also amongst your staff, what was the reaction like amongst your staff in the early stages compared to now?

So, there's so much we didn't know about this early on.

We didn't know how infectious it was, what were the precautions that really were necessary.

And so we've come a long way as a medical community in terms of what we now know about COVID-19, but there's still a lot that's unknown.

So, my staff now, and this is not just the physician staff, the clinical staff, the nurses, the techs, people are not comfortable going into a room to treat a patient with COVID-19.

They are confident in the PPE they're wearing.

They're confident in the precautions they must take to protect themselves while caring for the patient.

And I would assume that as your staff started hearing about the vaccine, there probably was a robust conversation taking place amongst them.

Tell us, give me a sense of what the sentiment, the prevailing sentiment was and what types of categories people fell into in terms of vaccine hesitancy, or acceptance for that matter.

So I've had a lot of conversations with my staff.

I've distributed literature.

We've had just sit downs in a break room where people could ask questions, conversations in the hallways.

And there was a wide range of reactions to the vaccine, the fact that it's available, what does it mean?

For some people, it just seemed that it was too soon.

This was sooner than any other vaccine we'd seen develop.

And then there were other concerns, especially among the younger nursing staff, will it cause infertility?

And then the other issue is, could you get COVID from this?

So there were lots of questions.

And so I had quite a few Q and A sessions where we were able to educate the staff.

And in addition to the fact that on the first day I did get my vaccine because I think it was important to set that example that I believe the vaccine is safe and effective, and this is the best tool we have to protect ourselves.

And in your circumstance, prior to you getting the vaccine, what was that conversation like amongst the staff?

For the staff, it was like Dr. Bell says, has been skeptical.

A lot of them compare it to the Tuskegee experiment, that's like comparing apples and oranges, and I told the staff.

Ms. Angela Brown has come down from inspection control, has come down and talked to the staff about the effectiveness of the vaccine.

But there's a lot of skepticism with my staff, too, as well, to not trust the government.

The past practice with African Americans, Latinos had with the government.

And I guess when I talk about this publicly, one of the things that I try to explain to people is that we have a general lack of trust in our institutions.

Law enforcement, the banking system when you look at the prior recession and what happened with mortgages and so on and on.

And that I think is part of the issue with our medical institutions.

But I'm very curious for people who work within a medical establishment to still have those it shows that it really runs deep.

And so what do you think help overcome it apart from you taking the vaccine that clearly has set the tone, but do you have more people or even people who were absolutely against it now signing up to get the vaccine?

Well, in the early pandemic, we had somebody in my department that passed away from the COVID-19.

He didn't get it at the facility.

So I think just saying the early stages when they was talking about the vaccine, no, they understood that they need to be protected.

And being protected is getting the vaccine.

We're always gonna have that few that's always absolutely against it.

They're against the flu shots, they're against all types of other things.

So you have your few.

And you have your few that's against the fence.

They're undecided.

So those are the people that I try to influence, try to get the ones who's against the fence.

So, little by little, my staff has been taking it 'cause they looking at me, my first shot, they've been asking me, did I get my second shot?

They were asking me, and little by little, two a day, one a day, are starting to take it.

They're beginning to see that the vaccine is safe.

And Dr. Bell, I guess along those lines as well, because obviously a lot of your staff are medical personnel, nurses, physicians, physician extenders, that hesitation, if you said, let's say your staff were 100 people, how many of them do you think still fall into vaccine hesitancy group?

So to be honest, when we first heard we were going to be getting a vaccine and it would be available to staff, and initially we weren't sure if it would be mandated or not and people were very upset about that.

So initially, I would say starting the conversation was probably 20% of the staff who said they would get the vaccine.

WAYNE: That they would.

That they would.

And this is early on around November when we started having conversations to say this would probably be available soon.

But I'm happy to report that by the time the vaccine was available, the emails that were coming to my inbox every day was I'm trying to sign up and there are no spots.

So, we were able, I think a lot of it was just misinformation or not having information.

And it really took having conversations to say, what is the biggest concern you have about getting the vaccine?

And can we address that?

And if there is a myth that you're thinking that this is the live vaccine, you're gonna get COVID, no you won't, it is not a live vaccine.

So it meant also going through a lot of that, getting the information from the trials and sharing it with the staff, 'cause these are medical personnel.

And I think once we did that and we dispelled a lot of the myth, people were more comfortable signing up.

And as they saw that the physician leaders were getting the vaccine, I'm pretty sure that at this point, 100% of my physicians in the emergency department have signed up to get the vaccine.

And so for the rest of the staff, seeing that your physician leaders who you're working alongside everyday are comfortable getting this vaccine, we've talked to openly, people have experienced some soreness in the arms and people said they had a headache, but this all went away within 24 hours.

We've all been at work throughout this, so people have seen us.

And so I think that has built confidence in a lot of the clinical staff, our support staff, in knowing that this vaccine is safe and it really is our best tool to protect ourselves.

And it's important to not opt out of protecting yourself.

And Mr. Dunlap, as you said, you got both doses.

Why don't you describe to viewers and listeners what that was like?

Well, of course, I was a little bit nervous about getting the vaccine.

Like I said, as a leader and knowing that you was getting it and CL Jinkis is getting it.

And I've seen Dean Mighty, all these hierarchies of management there, so I felt very comfortable that day.

And once I got the first dosage, just a sore arm, I was just sleeping on my right, I slept on my left side.

And then the second dosage I got on the left side.

Then I started sleeping on my left side, I slept on my right side.

So, I really didn't have no side effects, anything like that, I'm feeling great every day.

I'm here at work every day.

I really haven't missed any days of work.

And I would say it's being off sick or headache or anything like that.

So you had no muscle aches, no fever.

Just slept on one side and the other side, that's it.

And Dr. Bell, what about you?

Have you had both doses?

I have had both.

The first one actually was a breeze.

I actually forgot that I got the vaccine the day I got it.

The next day was a regular day.

The second dose, I did have a little soreness in my arm.

I got it in the same arm on both occasions.

But I did have some soreness after the second vaccine, but nothing else.

Honestly, I had no fever.

I had none of the other common symptoms that we've told people to expect because it's important that you know what to expect so you're not alarmed.

But I just had some local soreness after the second shot, but otherwise I had no other side effects.

So for the sake of full disclosure, after my first shot, I did have a sore shoulder where I got the shot, but I also developed myalgias, muscle aches, generally the next day, not the first night.

And then after getting the second shot, that happened within an hour, I had a slight headache and generalized muscle aches, when it was bad, got up the next day and it was perfectly fine, so it wasn't anything unusual or anything I felt I had to take any medications for.

And it's obviously a wide variety of what may happen as we go through.

Now, I guess my next question is, when do we start thinking about the larger public?

Because obviously within Howard University Hospital, we are a microcosm of the larger society.

And I guess given the vaccine hesitancy that you have seen within the hospital that we have had to overcome and have done so successfully, what are some of your recommendations as we go out into the community, Mr. Dunlap, what do you think would make a difference in your community to convince people to take the vaccine?

For one it's research it.

Before also I failed to research what's in the vaccine.

Just understand that African-Americans are dying three times, I think, three times as much as anybody, our counterparts out there.

And I'd rather go for something safe, and just research it for yourself, all right?

And try not to compare apples to oranges, which means Tuskegee, 'cause I hear that a lot in the community.

A lot of my friends on Facebook, they checking on me.

They got the conspiracy theory.

But research for yourself.

Because a lot of stuff they send me, I research it, and the stuff what they're saying is not accurate.

So do research for yourself.

Absolutely, what about you, Dr. Bell?

What are your thoughts about what we should be doing out in the community to get the message along why people should be taking the vaccine?

So like Mr. Dunlap says, for each of us who work in the hospitals who've gotten this vaccine, we need to share it with everyone we know, that we have gotten this vaccine, we've gotten both shots, and what our experiences are.

And then try to probe to find out if someone is hesitant, why are you hesitant?

Because the thing is, we do know that African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by this, and they have the highest mortality rate.

So if we have something that can potentially prevent death, then we should explore it, and we should encourage our community, our family, our friends to get vaccinated.

So let's explore some of the myths that are out there so our viewers and listeners can benefit from having these debunked and the information.

What probably is one of the most common things you've heard?

You mentioned Tuskegee.

Well, that just the government is out to get black people and they would probably put a different dosage, I heard that.

I heard that, like you said, the Tuskegee thing.

I hear things about other shots cause autism, cause infant fatality, and all types of things, I hear it all.

Yeah, so let's address a couple of those things now.

The first thing with the Tuskegee experiment, which was absolutely devastating, African-American males in the South with syphilis weren't treated even when we knew there was a cure for it.

And that obviously was inappropriate.

As a result of that, when we conduct clinical trials now, there's a lot of safety and protection of the individual around it in terms of what you consent for.

Actually, the criminal charges that can be filed if you violate those and bring anyone under harm.

So I think that there are lots of protections, and obviously this was done with a lot of scrutiny, so the chances of those things occurring.

And I think there will always be governments conspiracy theories.

And like I said, we do question governmental institutions as African-Americans because of our experience with them.

And this is one part of that.

But obviously some of the physicians involved not only in making the decision about approving the vaccine through CDC and FDA, but also a movement involved in the research have been African-Americans as well.

And I hope people would recognize that they obviously haven't seen it since it happened.

But Dr. Bell, what types of myths you've been hearing, or at least reasons for not wanting to have the vaccine that that you've been hearing?

So, one of the common things I got, like I said, from some of the younger staff, was this issue of infertility.

And so going back to the Pfizer trial, 12 people got pregnant during the trial.

And so once I shared that with them, they were like, "Really?"

So, a lot of it is myth.

And so if we're able to dispel those myths, then I think people will be a lot more comfortable in looking at the science and protecting themselves.

And to be clear, for those listening, pregnancy was a disqualifier to participate in the trial.

But as Dr. Bell was mentioning, some people actually got the vaccine not realizing they were pregnant.

And some people became pregnant subsequent to getting the vaccine.

And we haven't seen any issues along their deliveries, et cetera.

And obviously we will track them, it's still early stages that we look at.

Autism comes up a lot as a concern for side-effects for vaccines in general.

And that's because of, there was one landmark paper that has since been debunked about that theory that vaccines cause autism.

That seems to be still an issue that people continue to bring up and continue to provide as part of the concern.

So that's something that obviously we need to look at.

What about the availability of the vaccine?

Are you hearing in your community any concerns about whether or not there will be enough doses for those who are interested in having the vaccine?

Well, I haven't heard anything about shortages, as people are not taking the vaccine like they're supposed to with taking this serious.

Really at this point, I haven't heard about shortage.

We need people to come in and take the vaccine.

People are not taking it like they're supposed to.

And like I said, debunk it, and they're saying, "No, I'm not gonna take it."

But we need to take it as African-American and Latino community, we need to take this vaccine.

I just think of herd immunity, Dr. Bell, because as you're still seeing people come into the ED with COVID, the reality is, if only 10 to 20% of the population ends up taking the vaccine, it ultimately is not gonna protect all of us.

Any concerns about us getting to herd immunity quickly enough, and what do you think are some of the things that we can mitigate the circumstances that may be preventing us from getting there very quickly?

Yeah, so like you mentioned, people getting vaccinated and getting herd immunity is our way out of this.

There's a lot of COVID fatigue, but the longer people resist getting the vaccine and the longer it takes us to get to that number, it just means we're gonna be with these restrictions for a prolonged period.

We're gonna be with masks for a prolonged period.

We're gonna have to be doing physical distancing and social distancing for a prolonged period.

So, for those people who are expressing this fatigue at all these restrictions, the vaccine is truly our best way forward.

Well, as we close, I will say the couple of things that are a concern for me.

If we get into April, May, as in the spring and we have a certain part of population vaccinated, those people are gonna be comfortable getting out and going out, that's gonna start pushing and forcing the economy open.

And unfortunately, waiters, waitresses, custodial staff at establishments are more likely to be minorities, and they may not have taken a vaccine.

And so we can actually get another surge that specifically in our community that does not impact the larger community, and that could be devastating.

And that's another reason I think that we need to get it.

And then last thing is, I do have some concerns about vaccine distribution, just ensuring that we get these out as much as possible.

I don't think most of our population realizes that there are 54 vaccines under development.

And so there's a lot that will be coming out fairly soon, different types of vaccines, some vaccines where you only have to get one shot as well.

And that convenience may encourage people.

So, we're gonna show a PSA that we developed from Howard University Hospital.

I wanna thank both of you not just for participating, but for stepping up and showing some leadership and inspiring your colleagues and the folks that will come to you to take it, because ultimately we wanna protect everyone.

And I think when everybody's opportunity comes, my hope is that they will take the vaccine as well, so thanks for being here with us.

I'm getting vaccinated to be an example to my community.

I'm getting vaccinated for my mom.

I'm getting vaccinated because we all need to do our part.

I'm getting vaccinated for my mom and dad.

I'm getting vaccinated in honor of those who have lost their lives to this pandemic.

During this pandemic, Howard University and Howard University Hospital have been on the front lines to support our community and the black community at large.

Now, you can help us by doing your part.

Wear a mask, keep your social distance, wash your hands, and when your time comes, get the vaccine.

(upbeat music) The vaccines that are coming to market have proven to be safe and more than 90% effective.

However, we can't get to the other side of this pandemic without you.

Over the next several months, we need more than 80% of the US population to take the vaccine so that it can be effective.

I'm getting vaccinated for you.

(upbeat music) NARRATOR: This program was produced by WHUT and made possible by contributions from viewers like you.

For more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website at whut.org.

Thank you.