NRC Holds Webinar Addressing African American & Asian/Pacific Islander Communities and the COVID-19 Vaccine
On March 16th the National REACH Coalition in collaboration with Arizona Telemedicine Program at the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center and the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, National COVID-19 Resiliency Network, Asian Media Access, and Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center held the first webinar in a three-part series discussing Coronavirus vaccination efforts in communities of color. The first webinar, ‘African American & Asian/Pacific Islander Communities and the COVID-19 Vaccine,’ featured Patrick McNeal from North Flint Neighborhood Action Council, E. Yvonne Lewis from Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center Community Core, Dr. Susan J. Woolford from the University of Michigan, Ange Hwang from Asian Media Access, Hyepin Im from Faith and Community Empowerment and Dr. Shanti L. Narasimhan from the University of Minnesota.
The panelists representing the Asian/Pacific Islander communities delivered powerful presentations on the cultural values and norms which inform how they are responding to COVID-19 and the vaccine. Their presentations also included the economic and social impact that COVID has had on their community and the additional trauma of the anti-Asian hate they’ve experienced because of politicization of COVID. Panelists representing the African American communities discussed the importance of shifting the conversation from fear and blame to ensuring that action is being taken to disseminate information about the COVID-19 vaccine to communities in need.