LOS ANGELES — The arrival of the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine brought a sliver of hope to many, including newly-elected Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas who is stepping into office amid one of the darkest years in modern history.

When he gets the chance, he views taking the vaccine as part of his responsibility.

“Not only as a leader but as a husband, a father, a grandfather — I am all of that,” Ridley-Thomas said in an interview minutes after taking the oath of office Monday.

As a Los Angeles County supervisor, Ridley-Thomas delivered mask and COVID-19 testing to communities hit hardest by the pandemic. When it comes to the vaccine, he said “Operation Warp Speed” must now transition to “Operation Public Trust.”

Vaccine hesitancy is particularly acute in the Black community. A recent survey found that while half of Black Americans knew someone hospitalized or killed by COVID-19, only 14% said they trust a vaccine will be safe.

“When we see a statistic like that, what it’s telling us is not that there’s a problem with the people, it’s telling us there is a problem with the system,” said Dr. Chandra Ford, director of the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice, and Health at UCLA.

Ford launched a task force in March focusing on racism and inequality regarding COVID-19.

She cautions that a short-term rush to push vaccine acceptance among African Americans could backfire if the system doesn’t also address underlying issues of racism and inequality that lead so many people to distrust the safety of a vaccine.

“At the very least, simultaneously treat the system as problematic in many ways and address those problems, even if we are at the same time working with [the] community to build support for accessing vaccines,” said Ford.