There Are No Girls on the Internet - DISINFORMED: What that SNL skit on Black folks and vaccines got wrong

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

A Saturday Night Live skit about Black folks not wanting the COVID vaccine sparked a conversation about vaccine hesitancy. But making Black folks the face of vaccines hesitancy isn’t actually accurate. Check out the NPR piece on Black access to the COVID vaccine: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/05/962946721/across-the-south-covid-19-vaccine-sites-missing-from-black-and-hispanic-neighbor Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Did you watch Saturday Night Live last week? If you did, you probably saw a skit a lot of people are criticizing for unfairly portraying black folks and our hesitancy around the COVID-19 vaccine. In the skit, Daniel Kaluya plays a black doctor, tried Nick Evans as black cousins, aunties, and uncles to get the COVID-19 vaccine by offering the money, and none of them will do it. What about you, Aishana? You know I can't take that vaccine. I am a Christian. Who told you Christians can't take the vaccine? Facebook. Okay, so here's the problem.

If we're going to talk about vaccine hesitancy in the black community, we also need to be putting it in context. Our country has a deep and lasting legacy of medical racism, where black folks were ignored or actively mistreated, and that still has far-reaching impacts today. So it's not difficult to understand why some black folks might be hesitant about vaccines and the medical field in general. And any conversation that does not include that reality as a necessary context is incomplete. And furthermore, making black communities the face of vaccine. hesitancy is not actually borne out by the data. Black folks are actually enthusiastic about the COVID-19 vaccine. We're the fastest growing demographic to say that we would like to get vaccinated. The Kaiser

Family Foundation found that black adults saw the largest increase in vaccine enthusiasm, with the portion of those who have gotten or say they will get the vaccine jumping to 55% from just 20% in December. And what about white vaccine hesitancy? According to Pew, white evangelicals are the least likely demographic to say they'll get vaccinated. Of the around 41 million white evangelical adults in the United States, around 45% of them say they will not get vaccinated against COVID-19. And yet, we still make black folks the face of vaccine hesitancy. Despite COVID disproportionately impacting the black community and our enthusiasm for getting vaccinated, black folks are still getting vaccinated less. Black folks and Latinos are only about 60% as likely to have had the COVID-19 vaccine

as their white counterparts, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's because right now, the real issue isn't hesitancy. It's equal access. An NPR study that you can find a link to in the show description found deep disparities in black communities when it comes to accessing the COVID-19 vaccine. They found that in some states with lots of black folks, states like Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama, black and brown neighborhoods had fewer vaccine distribution sites, while few wider neighborhoods were without one. Not to mention the fact that many vaccine registration portals require internet access, and Pew found that black households are 30% less likely to own a computer.

We've also seen white wealthier folks jumping the vaccine line and misusing programs meant to vaccinate black, brown, and low-income communities. I know here in D.C. where I live, people looking for vaccines had to get up early and keep refreshing the city's website in the hopes of getting an open slot. And what if you had to work? Or deal with child care? not everybody has the ability to spend a few hours refreshing a website in the hopes of getting an open vaccine slot. The bottom line is blaming black hesitancy without any context for the black community's low vaccination rates is actually really harmful because it minimizes the importance of equal access to health care

and instead shifts the onus away from our medical institutions and puts it on the choices of individual black people instead. I'm happy to say that I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine. I was even happier to learn that it was developed by a team led by 34-year-old Dr. Kizmika Corbett, a black woman scientist who leads a team at the National Institute of Health. Here's what she told CNN's Abby Phillip. There is a subset of people who just hasn't been listened to around their health issues and around, you know, technology, really. And at this point, I just felt like it was time for me to sit down and empathize with an entire group of people who had been ignored.

And I know it may not make for the most hilarious SNL skit, but when we talk about black folks and vaccines, I hope we can also make room to amplify the fact that this amazing black woman is a big part of the reason while we have one of their vaccines in the first place. If you enjoyed this podcast, please help us grow by subscribing.

Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? We'd love to hear from you at hello at tangoady.com. Disinformed is brought to you by their no girls on the internet. It's a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer and engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer.

I'm your host, Bridget Todd. For more great podcasts, check out the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions.

about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamous,

and an army. Minium businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

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