Dr. René Settle-Robinson, Podiatrist
By Dr. René Settle-Robinson, Podiatrist
Outreach Community Health Center; Wisconsin State Director of Health Committee for the NAACP; Healthy Climate Wisconsin, VP; Climate and Health Equity Fellowship graduate 2022
There is a saying in the Black community, “When White folks get a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” Just about every healthcare problem that you can imagine is always 2 to 10 times worse among Black folks than it is among White folks. There are many factors that contribute to those statistics. One of them should not be the unwillingness to get vaccinated.
Our current United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is an anti-vaccine activist. Because he does not believe in vaccines, people who are afraid of shots, or want a good excuse not to get vaccinated, will choose not to be vaccinated. It is likely that the vaccinations, which were covered through the health department in the past, may not be covered in the future under his administration. This does not negate the need for vaccinations.
There were 698 flu-related hospitalizations in Milwaukee County during the 2023 to 2024 flu season. There was one reported pediatric death associated with that flu season in Milwaukee County.
Some might feel that the risk of one child dying does not qualify as a need for the protection that a flu shot would provide. If that one child was your child, perhaps you would not agree with that thought.
The last flu season from Christmas, 2024, to Easter, 2025, demonstrated the height of the reported deaths during Black History Month, representing 3% of all statewide deaths. Covid deaths were at 2% during that same time frame.
Collectively, 5% of all Wisconsin deaths were respiratory in nature last season, between the flu and COVID-19. Vaccinations could have lowered that number significantly.
The flu vaccination is called quadrivalent because it provides immunity to four different forms or strains of the flu virus prevalent during that season. The mechanism for survival of flu viruses is to mutate to resist the vaccinated protections. That is why there is a new flu vaccine every yearly season.
Children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses are more vulnerable to dying from a viral flu infection. Getting the vaccination doesn’t prevent you from getting sick at all, but it will protect you from dying from the flu. It is important that the adults who surround those who are more vulnerable to death from the flu are protected and not spreading the flu directly to them. These viruses mutate and change to resist the last protective vaccination. This is why we all need to be vaccinated against these respiratory viruses annually.
There are also a variety of diseases for which vaccinations were developed to eradicate. If we are not vigilant in getting these vaccinations, those diseases will raise their ugly heads again. Measles is the most recent example. The Rotary Club took the Polio vaccination worldwide and eradicated that crippling disease in all but 5 nations and continues this work to this day until all nations are free of that scourge. World travel potentially exposes anyone in the world not vaccinated to those conditions. As the State of Wisconsin Director of Health for the NAACP, I urge you all to get all vaccinations recommended by your doctor.