What manner of man is this?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I was reflecting on what is now commonly called the Tuskegee Experiment. The original name of this study was ‘Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male’. In the current period of political correctness, a title that so pointedly identified the subjects and the purpose of the experiment is no longer acceptable, so the study is now officially referred to as ‘USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee’. The USPHS is the United States Public Health Service.

For those who do not know the history of this additional abuse of its black population by the US Government, in 1932 the USPHS along with doctors at the Tuskegee Institute began a study to record the natural history of syphilis. The study involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. Participants were told that they were being treated for “bad blood”. However, no treatment was administered. The participants, ignorant of the real purpose, received what they thought were free medical examinations and treatment, free meals on the occasions they turned up for examinations, and burial insurance for the almost inevitable death that followed on the course of the untreated disease. In 1997, President Bill Clinton issued a formal Presidential Apology for something he described as “…deeply, profoundly, morally wrong”. The Tuskegee Experiment is one of the reasons why some people in the US are distrustful of government-issued vaccines. On this issue, we have something like a race memory.

What manner of people would abuse a segment of its population in this way? Perhaps it would be the same manner of a person who would acquire 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that cannot be legally used in the US (as there is no emergency authorisation) but are kept off the world market until they expire. AstraZeneca could not fulfil its contract with the European Union for 150 million doses, and has now renegotiated a new contract to supply them with 80 million doses. So one may ask, what manner of man would do this so millions of people will be unnecessarily exposed to infection and perhaps tens of thousands to die, and for what purpose?

We have recently been advised that Jamaica has acquired 700,000 doses of vaccines from several sources in the US that are at risk for expiring. I ask, what manner of men would keep vaccines away from those who have lawfully acquired them and badly need them?

We are familiar with the question, “What manner of man is this?” from the report in Mathew 8:27 where the disciples marvelled at the great deeds of Jesus Christ. Now we marvel at the great evil of men. The world has not changed a lot, or at least it certainly has not changed enough since 1932.

DERRICK MCKOY