Anthony Fauci says COVID-19 pandemic exposed 'undeniable effects of racism'

United States President Joe Biden administration's top medical adviser and disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci informed that the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed racism in the healthcare system across the US which has hurt especially the African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans during the pandemic.

During a graduation ceremony for Emory University, Fauci said that higher rates of coronavirus deaths among Black Americans, Latino Americans, and members of other minority groups as evidence of "social determinants" that caused the pandemic to hit those communities harder.

'Undeniable effects of racism': Fauci

He said, "Now, very few of these comorbidities have racial determinants. Almost all relate to the social determinants of health dating back to disadvantageous conditions that some people of color find themselves in from birth regarding the availability of an adequate diet, access to health care, and the undeniable effects of racism in our society."

Fauci said correcting societal wrongs will take a commitment of decades, and he urged the graduates to be part of the solution.
He said that the infectious disease disparately hospitalized and killed people of colour.

“Not since the influenza pandemic of 1918 has humanity faced a public health crisis of this magnitude. Each of you deserves enormous respect for your extraordinary adaptability, resilience, and dedication to learning, completing your studies, and graduating despite immense difficulties and uncertainties," he added. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last fall that Black Americans, as well as those who are Hispanic or Latino, were dying at disproportionately higher rates from COVID-19 compared to non-Hispanic white Americans as
researchers have linked the higher rates of deaths in those groups to social factors including housing and employment as well as some health factors including higher rates of diabetes and other underlying conditions in those communities, news agency ANI reported.

(With Agency Inputs)