KTLA

‘We want to study you’: For black Angelenos, COVID-19 triggers fear of another Tuskegee

Jacquelyn Temple stands outside her home in Leimert Park in 2020. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The invitation to participate in a COVID-19 antibody study arrived in Jacquelyn Temple’s inbox early last month.

Initially, the 72-year-old Leimert Park resident felt hope. She wondered whether the study and accompanying blood test could answer why she had been experiencing months of respiratory problems, even through her coronavirus test had come back negative. Maybe, she thought, the test would reveal that she had been exposed and recovered.

Then she was hit with what she calls “a Tuskegee moment.”

“Every time I think about ‘experimental’ or ‘we want to study you’ or ‘there’s no cure, but we can treat you’ … Tuskegee is in the back of my mind,” Temple said after deciding to go forward with the antibody study anyway.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.