Selected quotes from the interview:

COVID Coming

“Easter Sunday 2020, I'll never forget that looking at the data. And you can sort of see the train wreck that was coming for COVID. And I knew how difficult it's going to be for the black community in particular… And so, I started dialing that evening to the representatives and people that I knew from the faith community, community-based health organizations, entertainers, musicians, poets, people who interacted with the incarcerated community, and those returning citizens, faith leaders, and so across the board.

(W)e were able to create something called the Black Coalition Against COVID. And from a standing start, no resources, no money. But just with goodwill, and a sense that we have to respond. That began a steamroller effect, that that started to spread very rapidly.”

Coming Together

(Q)uickly, we began to also see that a vaccine is going to be critical. And that meant clinical trials. And that meant overcoming the legacy of the US Public Health Services experiments in Tuskegee, it meant overcoming the improv tours of the Henrietta Lacks experience and just generations of distrust…. (We) brought together the four black medical schools Howard, Meharry, Morehouse, and Charles Drew…along with the National Medical Association, the National Black Nurses Association, the Urban League, as well as the largest digital publisher of health information for the black community, blackdr.org. All of that became the national arm of the Black Coalition Against COVID. And with them, and in partnership with many leaders from the federal government and other scientists of renown, we were able to push really forward a whole series of town halls… along with other activities… And I think we learned an incredibly important lesson… And that lesson really, is that it is possible to bring together the black community in very powerful ways, With combined with expertise and a sense of mission and passion, and have some some success.”

Disparities

“(W)e learned a lot about the social impediments for mounting an emergency campaign to save lives. However, the much more important reflection that I have was the success. And we now have found that in first, primary series COVID vaccinations, we closed that disparities gap, despite all the baggage coming from so far back into pack, but we tied white America. And that's an amazing feat that shows us what's possible.

“But what's even more important, and this is the real key that people need to focus in on, is that by the second year, the loss of life was less for black folks than for white America, that we as a result of our efforts to get our community vaccinated, and all the other protective measures, mask wearing and so forth, that we were able to actually save more black lives than white America could with all of the advantages that so many of them had.” And so this sort of tells us what we can get when we've organized ourselves to fight for our lives, with a good support of others we can succeed. And that that gives us optimism and hope that we can do this all the way now for the pre existing challenges that have been laid, you know, that have plagued us for so long."

Knowledge

“(W)e have to continue to remind our students and our young professionals, that we must really know our craft well. But knowing our craft well is much more complex than ever before, we have to know the fundamentals. But then we have to know how to apply those fundamentals in the real world so that it changes the course of events. That is an extraordinary augmentation of our expertise, but one that I think they will be much better prepared for in the future."

Building Trust

“We were certainly influenced heavily by the sense of distrust and mistrust and misinformation that the black community was plagued with, but also for the white community. In fact, maybe even more so than the black community at times. And so the thought was, could we, for the first time in history, bring together the entire health ecosystem? Can we get all of the health leaders to decide that this issue of mistrust, distrust and misinformation is such an existential threat to every health concerned organization, and every oath that every health professional has ever taken? This is core to what and who we are. Could you in fact, assemble the industry to fight this this concern over time? To our surprise, and joy, ninety organizations have currently signed up to be members of the coalition for trust in health and science.

“(W)e've been able to start to think about our capacity, ninety organizations, each of whom have their own communication specialists. So now, a rapid response, tracking misinformation, and then being able to respond quickly, is the capability that we're moving towards. We've got a whole another group of panelists who are the best communications experts that that we can find. So we're really excited by being able to move this forward.

“We just have to continue to think through what we do. We're going to have to continue to reach across the divide, we're going to have to continue to embed ourselves inside of the life of community, but also one of the things that I like about what Brown is doing, and I'm very excited about it, is also focusing on bringing more people from communities that have not been a part of the conversation into the academy, into this so that we are not having to convert people, but that the people who are from the culture themselves are now able to be a part and then they can continue that conversation with their friends, neighbors and peers.”

Quotes have been edited or condensed for clarity. The Pandemic Center thanks Dr. Tuckson for his time and insight.