# Covid and black people. What's the offense here? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 11, 2020, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443 "2020-06-11T10:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/1 "2020-06-11T10:46:11Z")
So a black friend of mine posted a meme on FB. It basically says Bill Gates’ wife thinks health care workers should get the vaccine first and then black people. My friends response to this was “SMH”. And then another black person chimes in with: “I respectfully decline. Take care of your own first.” If she did indeed say this, I’m sure she said it because black communities have been hit harder. So what’s the offense here? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/2 "2020-06-11T10:49:20Z")
SMH ??? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/3 "2020-06-11T10:57:33Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > SMH ??? Shaking My Head ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/4 "2020-06-11T11:09:51Z")
Bill Gates is an open advocate of population control. Many black people (people in general, really) assign nefarious intent to those two words. To many, it reeks of Eugenics. There are several conspiracy theories surrounding Bill Gates and his enthusiasm for vaccines. Microchip injection is among the more outlandish. Given black people’s historical relationship with American medicine, that has been prone to use us as expendable guinea pigs, and a general conspiratorial mistrust of Gates, they’re reluctant to be on the frontlines of any such vaccine. I don’t ascribe to any of the conspiracy stuff, but, yes, I am wary of any medical endeavor that says, ‘try it on the black people first.’ ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/5 "2020-06-11T11:34:29Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Bill Gates is an open advocate of population control. Many black people (people in general, really) assign nefarious intent to those two words. To many, it reeks of Eugenics. There are several conspiracy theories surrounding Bill Gates and his enthusiasm for vaccines. Microchip injection is among the more outlandish. > > Given black people’s historical relationship with American medicine, that has been prone to use us as expendable guinea pigs, and a general conspiratorial mistrust of Gates, they’re reluctant to be on the frontlines of any such vaccine. > > I don’t ascribe to any of the conspiracy stuff, but, yes, I am wary of any medical endeavor that says, ‘try it on the black people first.’ Ah, very enlightening thanks. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/6 "2020-06-11T12:06:43Z")
This article piggybacks on **planetcory’s** post: [Coronavirus: Africa will not be testing ground for vaccine, says WHO](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52192184) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/7 "2020-06-11T12:21:53Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > I don’t ascribe to any of the conspiracy stuff, but, yes, I am wary of any medical endeavor that says, ‘try it on the black people first.’ Except that when we get to a point where we’re administering a vaccine to large swaths of the general public, we’re doing so because we’ve already tried it on some people - Hopefully a lot of people, all of whom gave informed consent to serve as test subjects - and concluded, with a high degree of confidence, that it’s safe and effective. So this medical endeavor isn’t saying “let’s try it on the black people first,” it’s saying “let’s give black people priority treatment with this thoroughly tested vaccine because (generally speaking) their living circumstances tend to lead them to be exposed to the virus more, and their preexisting health conditions tend to result in worse outcomes after exposure.” Until such time as we have enough vaccine for everyone, you take the doses you have and put them where they’ll do the most good: in the subpopulation that’s suffering the most. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/8 "2020-06-11T16:30:30Z")
I remember that the Chinese were planning on testing their Coronavirus vaccine on Pakastanis. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/9 "2020-06-11T17:23:14Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Except that when we get to a point where we’re administering a vaccine to large swaths of the general public, we’re doing so because we’ve already tried it on some people - Hopefully a lot of people, all of whom gave informed consent to serve as test subjects - and concluded, with a high degree of confidence, that it’s safe and effective. > > So this medical endeavor isn’t saying “let’s try it on the black people first,” it’s saying “let’s give black people priority treatment with this thoroughly tested vaccine because (generally speaking) their living circumstances tend to lead them to be exposed to the virus more, and their preexisting health conditions tend to result in worse outcomes after exposure.” > > Until such time as we have enough vaccine for everyone, you take the doses you have and put them where they’ll do the most good: in the subpopulation that’s suffering the most. I take this to mean that poor people are likely to be exposed more often and to have more health risks when they are exposed. Why make it racial, either in fact or in the PR? Why not aim it at the subpopulation that is poor rather than the subpopulation that is black? Do poor black people have specifically higher risks than other poor people? Do middle class black people have specifically higher risks than non-black poor people? ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/10 "2020-06-11T17:38:31Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > So a black friend of mine posted a meme on FB. It basically says Bill Gates’ wife thinks health care workers should get the vaccine first and then black people. My friends response to this was “SMH”. And then another black person chimes in with: “I respectfully decline. Take care of your own first.” > > If she did indeed say this, I’m sure she said it because black communities have been hit harder. > > So what’s the offense here? I don’t fully understand your post as to the exchange among your friends, but Melinda Gates did say pretty much what you suggest: > **[Melinda Gates on Who Should Get the COVID-19 Vaccine First](https://time.com/5847483/melinda-gates-covid-19/)** > > The Gates Foundation pledged $1.6 billion to the Global Vaccine Alliance "Who needs it after health care workers? In the U.S., that would be black people next, quite honestly, and many other people of color. " Socio-political norms are changing and/or fragmenting pretty rapidly now, but up to now at least most people in the US would have considered that a fairly bizarre thing to say. Young, healthy, well off African Americans (or other non-whites) should be given the vaccine before poor whites in high COVID risk groups based on their skin color? I still would find that to be an eccentric statement at the least. ‘Offensive’? I’m also a dinosaur who thinks too much ‘offense’ is taken sometimes about various things along these lines. If that was seriously going to be the govt policy though, prioritizing access to public resources literally by race I’d have a problem with it though, yeah. And I would not be convinced otherwise by ‘well but that’s what we used to do in favor of whites’. The point being, we shouldn’t have done it (or shouldn’t do it, if you can really point to cases where that is the _official policy_ now, as opposed to disparate impact of policies with no explicit racial component). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/11 "2020-06-11T18:41:15Z")
I always thought SMH means “so much hate.” As for healthcare workers, they more or less by definition are exposed to Covid more than anyone else, so yes they get first dibs. Allowing a racial group to get the next dibs/priority on the vaccine would cause an enormous political shitstorm. Better to draw by lottery by birth dates, as it was done in the movie _Contagion_. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/12 "2020-06-11T22:22:41Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I take this to mean that poor people are likely to be exposed more often and to have more health risks when they are exposed. Why make it racial, either in fact or in the PR? Why not aim it at the subpopulation that is poor rather than the subpopulation that is black? Do poor black people have specifically higher risks than other poor people? Do middle class black people have specifically higher risks than non-black poor people? There’s a growing body of research that says [yes, people subjected to chronic racism suffer chronic health effects.](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/11/562623815/scientists-start-to-tease-out-the-subtler-ways-racism-hurts-health) As to whether an upper/middle-class black person is at greater risk for COVID complications than a poor white person, I’m not in a position to say. But if you’re trying to keep the “who gets the vaccine first” criteria simple, it seems like race is probably more useful than income. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/13 "2020-06-11T22:28:53Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Bill Gates is an open advocate of population control. ’ So the conspiracy theory in this case is they want to cull all the healthcare workers first and then all black people? Doesn’t sound like a good plan for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/14 "2020-06-11T22:41:57Z")
I assumed it was because black people seem to have a higher mortality rate, though how much that’s linked to socioeconomic status I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/15 "2020-06-11T22:50:20Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > So the conspiracy theory in this case is they want to cull all the healthcare workers first and then all black people? Doesn’t sound like a good plan for anyone. I take it back. I failed to recognize the genius of Bill’s plan. If you really want to control population healthcare workers are exactly who you’d take out first. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/16 "2020-06-11T23:13:10Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Bill Gates is an open advocate of population control. By his own words, Gates believes in allowing women to have the number of children they want to have. Since in developing countries - particularly in sub-Saharan Africa - women have more children than they want, on average, I guess this is tantamount to favoring population control in a limited way. But it’s hardly nefarious. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/17 "2020-06-12T01:00:43Z")
Giving black people a vaccine first is the opposite of trying to curtail their population. This reeks of an effort by the Right to spread rumors designed to encourage black people to avoid getting vaccinated in hopes of killing them. Especially given that it’s the _Right_ that is extremely fond of conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and vaccines. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I take this to mean that poor people are likely to be exposed more often and to have more health risks when they are exposed. Why make it racial, either in fact or in the PR? Why not aim it at the subpopulation that is poor rather than the subpopulation that is black? Do poor black people have specifically higher risks than other poor people? Do middle class black people have specifically higher risks than non-black poor people? The pandemic [is](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/08/us/coronavirus-pandemic-race-impact-trnd/index.html) hitting non-whites especially black people harder. > [@](#): > > African Americans are dying at disproportionately higher rates compared to all other ethnicities. ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/18 "2020-06-12T01:46:23Z")
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Home Topics Drug Discovery Drug DiscoveryDrug DeliveryTherapeuticsVaccinesNews "Quantum Dots Deliver Vaccines and Invisibly Encode Vaccination History in Skin December 19, 20190 microneedle array A close-up image of the microneedle array, which could delivery quantum dots into skin. [K.J. McHugh et al. Science Translational Medicine (2019)] “Researchers headed by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a microneedle platform using fluorescent microparticles called quantum dots (QD), which can deliver vaccines and at the same time invisibly encode vaccination history directly in the skin. The quantum dots are composed of nanocrystals, which emit near-infrared (NIR) light that can be detected by a specially equipped smartphone. Tests using the platform showed that QDs delivered to samples of human skin were still detectable after photobleaching that simulated five years of exposure sunlight, and they remained detectable for up to nine months when tested in rats.” > **[Quantum Dots Deliver Vaccines and Invisibly Encode Vaccination History in Skin](https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/quantum-dots-deliver-vaccines-and-invisibly-encode-vaccination-history-in-skin/)** > > Scientists believe microneedle-delivered fluorescent quantum dots could be used for data storage, biosensing, and vaccine delivery to improve medical care, particularly in developing nations This is why many people do not want the vaccine, combine this with covid trace act a lot of people think this infringes on their privacy. ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/19 "2020-06-12T01:50:27Z")
> **[Storing medical information below the skin’s surface](https://news.mit.edu/2019/storing-vaccine-history-skin-1218)** > > MIT researchers have developed a novel way to record a patient’s vaccination history: storing the data in a pattern of quantum-dot dye, invisible to the naked eye, that is delivered under the skin at the same time as the vaccine. For the technical info refer to ^^^ link. Very, interesting. And these are the sponsers: “The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute. Other authors of the paper include Sean Severt, Mache Cruz, Morteza Sarmadi, Hapuarachchige Surangi Jayawardena, Collin Perkinson, Fridrik Larusson, Sviatlana Rose, Stephanie Tomasic, Tyler Graf, Stephany Tzeng, James Sugarman, Daniel Vlasic, Matthew Peters, Nels Peterson, Lowell Wood, Wen Tang, Jihyeon Yeom, Joe Collins, Philip Welkhoff, Ari Karchin, Megan Tse, Mingyuan Gao, and Moungi Bawendi” ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443/20 "2020-06-12T16:54:23Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I take this to mean that poor people are likely to be exposed more often and to have more health risks when they are exposed. Why make it racial, either in fact or in the PR? Why not aim it at the subpopulation that is poor rather than the subpopulation that is black? Do poor black people have specifically higher risks than other poor people? Do middle class black people have specifically higher risks than non-black poor people? There is some [evidence](https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/comment/vitamin-d-covid-19/)that vitamin d deficiency is a factor in how bad coronavirus infection is. Black people are [much](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6075634/#:~:text=Race%20was%20identified%20as%20a,%25%2D71.7%25)%20%5B3%5D.)more likely to be vitamin d deficient than white people regardless of SES. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-and-black-people-whats-the-offense-here/855443.md?page=2)