Research has shown that sexual and gender minorities, and especially people of color, are more vulnerable to becoming infected with the coronavirus and also more likely to have underlying conditions that could make them severely ill if they were to contract Covid-19. But many of the very people who are most at risk within these communities are also hesitant to take the vaccine, according to a recent study and interviews with health care workers as well as people of color who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
The racial bias still found in medical care as well as the modern-day discrimination faced by sexual and gender minorities adds an additional burden.
“The fear of being rejected is already there,” [nurse practitioner Jill] Crank said. “They may have already been rejected by their families, friends, co-workers — so it can cause a deep depression and lack of trust in anyone, including health care workers.”
There are additional, different concerns about the vaccine among transgender people, advocates say, especially those who have received silicone injections or hormone replacement therapy.
“How does that affect somebody who has been on estrogen for the last 20 years?” asked [TransLatin@ Coalition’s] Maria Roman-Taylorson… “There’s no data at all.”
