A black scientist who has been a vital researcher in the race to create a vaccine for COVID-19 has posted a series of controversial tweets recently. Fox News reports that the Department of Health and Human Services has launched investigations over the claims.
Previously, we have reported that Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a viral immunologist working with the National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the lead researcher with Dr. Barney Graham’s coronavirus team in the Vaccine Research Center. It is also a part of the National Institutes of Health.
Recently, Dr. Corbett has been drawing public attention with her social media activities, particularly some of her controversial tweets. Some of those tweets date back to the start of February.
She tweeted a link to a Bloomberg article about the impact of the virus on poor communities on March 29. On her follow up comments, she suggested that doctors may choose to overlook some Blacks if ventilators are in short supply.
The tweet read, “I tweet for the people who will die when doctors have to choose who gets the last ventilator and ultimately… who lives. The poor. And, while the article doesn’t explicitly say it… the black.”
In a follow-up tweet o April 11, she further suggested that she pleads to the notion of the pandemic being an act of genocide against Blacks.
“Some have gone as far as to call it genocide. I plead the fifth,” the tweet read.
Meanwhile, during a news conference on April 10, Surgeon General Jerome Adams had said that data which shows that Black Americans and Latinos in America have been the victims of death from the complications of the virus at a higher rate is due to the fact that minority groups suffer more from underlying causes such as diabetes, obesity, and other health issues. Therefore, he called for the underserved to abide by the stay-at-home orders and other related guidelines to help slow the spread of the disease.
“We need you to do this if not for yourself than for your Abuela. Do it for your granddaddy, do it for your big momma, do it for your pop pop,” the nation’s top doctor said. “We need you to understand, especially in communities of color. We need you to step up and stop the spread so that we can protect those who are most vulnerable.”
Also, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease doctor and a key member of the White House pandemic task force supported Dr. Jerome’s claims.
“Jerome, you did it beautifully. You can’t do it any better than that,” Fauci said. “I know Jerome personally. I can just testify that he made no — not even a hint of being offensive at all with that comment.”
The same day, Dr. Corbett responded to a tweet from another Twitter user that addressed Adams and Fauci’s statements. “Pasting this thread here because it’s appropriately put. Black people are not dying more because of their behaviors. That is just a cop-out to adjust accountability,” she tweeted.
In response to the claims, an HHS official told Fox News that “career ethics officials are reviewing the matter” and that the situation is serious. However, if the investigation rules Corbett’s comments as unprofessional, she would, therefore, be found in violation of federal guidelines.
Moreover, after airing the doctor’s recent tweets by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, her before-public Twitter account was made private. Although it did not stop those able to view her posts for the past months from responding as seen below.
https://twitter.com/objectivescribe/status/1251641499764363266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1251641499764363266&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fatlantablackstar.com%2F2020%2F04%2F20%2Fblack-scientist-suggests-covid-19-is-a-genocide-against-blacks-department-of-health-launches-investigation-into-her-tweets%2F
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is a racist to suggest that the pandemic was utilized to get rid of the black race!💩💩💩💩
— Van Myers (@VanMyers9) April 18, 2020
1/3 Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett’s remarks that have raised such a stir are hardly far off the mark—given the long history of medical experimentation on black folk under dint of coercion and/or without informed consent, plus frequent medical maltreatment.
— Sandy Darity, Retweets do not mean endorsement. (@SandyDarity) April 19, 2020
3/3 And in the present crisis it’s been an open secret about whom are the “preferred” subjects for pharmaceutical and vaccine trials for Covid-19, black folk here and overseas. Dr. Corbett has marked another evolving atrocity.
— Sandy Darity, Retweets do not mean endorsement. (@SandyDarity) April 19, 2020
