Spencer Crew (00:01):
I am Spencer Crew, and I am a Professor of History at George Mason University. And I want to talk to you about the COVID vaccine and getting the COVID inoculation. I myself am in favor of getting an inoculation. And it has a lot to do with what's gone on in the country over the last year. Over the last year, we're aware of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died as a consequence of COVID. We also know that within the communities of color, the percentage of people who have suffered from it in various kinds of ways is much higher than it is in other places.

Spencer Crew (00:32):
This has a lot to do with preexisting issues that exist within that community. Things like obesity and high blood pressure, but also the fact that access to healthcare, and more importantly, access to places where one can get the shot has been difficult for many people. So, therefore, the ability to be protected has been diminished.

Spencer Crew (00:53):
Now, I understand why people might have some hesitancy about getting the shot. Historically, relationships with the medical community have not been the best for communities of color. We're all very much aware of the Tuskegee experiment for syphilis, and how that went on for two decades. We're also aware of the experimentation that was done on enslaved African American women before the Civil War. And, of course, there's the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose genes have become a marvel for the scientific community, but she was not able to benefit from it, because she died back in 1951. I think all of these factors can make one sort of hesitant about getting the vaccine or getting involved in what is a newer kind of cure.

Spencer Crew (01:38):
But it's also important to keep in mind that the idea of vaccines and inoculations really had an important start in New England back in the time of the puritans when they had an outbreak of smallpox. And advice was given to them by a enslaved man from West Africa, who shared with them his ideas and the things done in his country in terms of using inoculations to prevent the spread of smallpox. This was then used in New England and became a very effective tool for stopping the spread of that disease.

Spencer Crew (02:10):
I think the same kind of idea exists with the idea of vaccinations for COVID. What we know is that when contracting COVID the outcomes aren't always very good. You might recover and not have a problem at all, but you also might recover and have a variety of things, of after effects hit you as a consequence of getting COVID itself. We're still not clear what the longterm impacts of COVID might be, but the worst outcome is that you could contract COVID and die from it.

Spencer Crew (02:38):
Unfortunately, I am aware of people that have friends who have contracted COVID and passed away. And I'm sure that they, and their family members who have lost them, would have wished they had access to a vaccine that they could have applied to save their lives.

Spencer Crew (02:54):
Given this, I know that I myself feel the same way, that I don't want to contract COVID. I certainly don't want to put my family through the heartache and the pain of having lost me and having to think about what steps come next. So, in the light of these pros and cons, my decision has been that getting the COVID vaccine is probably the best path to follow. That if by doing so, what will happen is that you will protect yourself and protect your family and your loved ones from contracting the disease. And more importantly, it allows us to more quickly move towards, back to some semblance of normalcy that we had from before.

Spencer Crew (03:30):
So, for me, the idea of getting the vaccine makes perfect sense. In fact, I've already gotten vaccinated and I have had very little in the way of reactions to it. So, I hope that you will think about this carefully, and that you, too, will decide to get the vaccination, because I think it's a good thing for you, a good thing for your family, and will make your life much easier and safer going forward.