Michigan State University will conduct a study into how to communicate the need for antibody tests for COVID-19 in communities that are often mistrustful of government health campaigns, and with good reason.
Todd Lucas is a Professor of Public Health in the MSU College of Human Medicine.
Lucas says the study will take place in Flint, recruiting 500 adults to get an antibody test for COVID. Researchers plan to work with the Flint Registry, established after the city’s water crisis, to assist residents in getting access to health care.
He says Flint was chosen since it is a community with residents who understandably have a deep mistrust of government health campaigns.
“I think there is a lot of lessons to be learned in terms of how do you work effectively with communities that have been mistreated...and how do you work with communities that have been disproportionately burdened by things like COVID-19,” says Lucas.
The study received a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The project is part of the National Institute of Health Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19 initiative.
