The Morehouse School of Medicine announced Tuesday (January 5) that former UN Ambassador Andrew Young and legendary Major League Baseball player Hank Aaron will receive the coronavirus vaccine on campus.
The public vaccination at the School among the leaders in the Black community comes as the nation tries to fulfill its goal to get millions of Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.
Young and Aaron are joined by former US Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, and retired broadcast executive Xernona Clayton, among others set to get the vaccine on the historic campus.
“They marched to the polls to secure our rights,” Morehouse School of Medicine President and Dean Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice said according to a statement released by the School, “And now, they are rolling up their sleeves to save lives.”
The event hopes to get more Black Americans comfortable with getting the coronavirus vaccine, given the tragic impact the virus has had on the community.
“The way to stop the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the Black community is to get the vaccine into [B]lack arms,” Dr. Montgomery Rice said.
The leaders are all over the age of 75 and are a part of the first phase of the state’s vaccination rollout priority. They’re slated to receive the Moderna vaccine.
“As far back as I can remember I have taken vaccines –– before I went to elementary school; before college and for my travels across 141 out of 195 counties,” Young said. “Vaccines have kept me safe for 88 years.” Young is a former congressman and also served as mayor of Atlanta.
Leaders at the School hope the public vaccination will also ultimately get more Black people comfortable in participating in clinical trials and take the federally-approved vaccines. The school will kick off a community vaccination pop-up series starting January 9.
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