The coronavirus vaccine campaign is off to a slow start in Tuskegee and surrounding areas. Community leaders point to a resistance among residents caused by a distrust of government promises and years of failed health programs. The town is known for being the place where a major government study on the sexually transmitted disease syphilis was carried out on a group of Black men. Most of Tuskegee’s 8,500 residents have family members who were part of the experiment. Government investigators later declared the experiment unethical. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the study on its website. The research began in 1932 with 600 Black men - 399 had syphilis and 201 did not. The men were not informed about the true purpose of the study. Researchers instead told them they were being treated for “bad blood.” In truth, the CDC says, the men did not receive the necessary treatment to cure their sickness. Even when penicillin became the drug of choice for syphilis in 1947, researchers did not offer it to the men. The study, which was supposed to last only six months, ended up lasting 40 years. As a result, many people in Tuskegee remain suspicious.