Black doctors' group creates panel to vet Covid-19 vaccines

A group of Black physicians is banding together to create an expert panel that would vet any regulatory guidance on Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics as well as government recommendations on the pandemic. The panel is being organized by the National Medical Association, which was created more than a century ago in response to racist medical organizations excluding Black doctors, and comes amid recent withering trust in federal agencies including the CDC and FDA. The mistrust for the Black community goes back much farther, however, as medicine has historically mistreated this group. And as scientists work to fast-track a Covid-19 vaccine, communities of color are once again concerned about safety. “It’s necessary to provide a trusted messenger of vetted information to the African American community,” NMA president Leon McDougle tells STAT. Read more here.