An increasing number of higher education institutions are requiring students to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before attending campuses in the fall. Among these are Rutgers University, Cornell University, Duke University, and Brown University.

COVID-19 has had a severe and disproportionate impact on the Black community in the U.K, they are twice as likely as white people to catch the virus. Black people are also overly represented in the numbers of those working in the National Health Service (NHS). We can’t afford to ignore the worrying implications.

How can we make space for concerns about the vaccine and grapple with a difficult history? Dr. Joyce Sanchez says that the most important thing she can do when addressing vaccine hesitancy is to shut up and listen. Note: mentions of non-consensual clinical trials and experimentation.

On March 2, President Joe Biden directed every state to prioritize educators, specifically pre-K-12 and childcare workers, for COVID-19 vaccination, allowing them to go to local pharmacies to sign up for the vaccine. This directive is seen as a step in the right direction in resuming regular instruction in schools safely, with Biden emphasizing how crucial it is to get kids back inside the classrooms as soon as possible.

Minority groups have been affected by COVID-19 at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts in Southern Nevada and, on Friday, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan intended to reverse inequities in distributing the vaccine to traditionally marginalized groups.

Regina Stukes has finally got an appointment to be vaccinated against Covid-19 , after eight unsuccessful attempts by internet and telephone. No one gave him a date before April 26 until on Friday he decided to appear in the queues of the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx , one of the largest vaccination centers in the country. “I didn't want the vaccine,” this 63-year-old African - American confesses in a telephone conversation. " Medicine has not treated us wellBlacks and Latinos, and the vaccine has developed so fast that I was scared. " Her family finished convincing her. Her husband is an essential worker and was the first to inoculate himself to the risks he faces every day. "In the end we decided that we would do it together," he adds. He has an appointment on February 11.

A professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says messaging is key when encouraging minority communities to trust the COVID-19 vaccine and government's distribution of it.

Editor's Note: This article is part of a series in partnership with the All of Us Research Program, which collects and studies health data to help scientists identify health trends. More than 80% of participants are from groups that have been historically underrepresented in research.