CHICAGO – In a makeshift vaccination center at a safety-net Chicago hospital, a patient services aide ushers an older woman with a cane toward a curtained cubicle. “Here, have a seat right here,” Trenese Bland says helpfully, preparing the woman for a shot offering protection against the virus that has ravaged their Black community.
But the aide has doubts about getting her own inoculation. "It’s not something that I trust right now,’’ says Bland, 50, who worries about how quickly the COVID-19 vaccines were developed. “It’s not something that I want in me.’’ Just 37% of the 600 doctors, nurses and support staff at Roseland Community Hospital have been vaccinated even though health care workers are first in line.