County leaders hold news conference on COVID-19 vaccine community collaboration
Leaders understand that getting certain groups to take the vaccine will be a momentous task.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Tuesday morning, community leaders held a news conference announcing the creation of a coalition to encourage and convince Toledoans and the rest of Lucas County residents to take the COVID-19 vaccine when given the opportunity.
The leaders call this project “V”, which is short for victory over the COVID-19 pandemic. The end goal is for Lucas County to have the highest vaccination rate in the state, and for the county to defeat the virus and return to normal, which Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz defines as no masks and social distancing.
It’ll be a momentous task to convince people the vaccine is safe, specifically blacks, because of systematic mistreatment in the healthcare system: past and present, with an example being the Tuskegee project, where black men were told that if they took part in a syphilis study, they’d receive free healthcare. But the men were never told they had syphilis and were injected with all types of placebos and ineffective treatment methods.
This community collaboration is promoting vaccines through pastors, community leaders, business leaders, healthcare providers, nonprofit leaders, education leaders, government officials, and trusted medical officials. An example of this project in action would be businesses promoting the vaccine to employees and pastors promoting the vaccine to their congregation.
Also to inform people about the vaccine, there’ll be: ‘A Day in the Life’ videos, traditional media advertising, and virtual town halls.
