Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to President Biden, says he isn’t shocked by NBA star LeBron James‘s hesitancy to say whether he will get the coronavirus vaccine.
The former congressman said the reluctance is unsurprising given similar sentiments have become a trend among black men.
“The unfortunate part is, it doesn’t surprise me,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday. “There’s some real hesitancy in African American males.”
US VACCINE PRODUCTION AND CAMPAIGN BRIGHT SPOTS IN PANDEMIC RESPONSE
James refused to commit to getting vaccinated during a conference call to promote the NBA‘s All-Star Game on Sunday. “That’s a conversation my family and I will have,” James said when asked whether he would get a vaccine.
Richmond, who is black, said it was important for familiar faces like James to get inoculated to help instill public confidence in the vaccine.
“This administration, since before we were sworn in, we were holding calls with influencers, especially African American males, with the future surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, so that he [could] answer those tough questions,” Richmond added. “I just take this as an opportunity to make sure that we get LeBron with Dr. [Anthony] Fauci or Vivek Murthy so that he can understand the science behind it.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation found in a study published on Feb. 19 that 19% of black women and 7% of black men say they “definitely will not” get vaccinated. Among the respondents, 41% of black women and 45% of black men said they wanted to “wait and see” how the vaccine was working out for others before taking it themselves.
The former Louisiana representative said some of the skepticism of the initiative is rooted in history.
“It was a vaccine created in 10 months, usually takes five to 10 years, with a former administration that was not that truthful,” Richmond added. “African Americans have a history with Tuskegee experiments and other things, so there is a hesitancy there, but what we’re doing is being as transparent as we can.”
Richmond then encouraged viewers to get the vaccine, calling it the “safest thing you can do for your family.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
More than 92 million vaccines have been administered, according to the most recently available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Biden pledged to administer 100 million shots during his first 100 days in office.
Representatives for the Klutch Sports Group, which represents James, did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
