Live Q&A to Stream Thursday on Facebook and YouTube
Wake County Public Health’s community outreach continues, Thursday, July 15, at 7 p.m. with the sixth in a series of live virtual town hall meetings. Conducted in Spanish, “Adolescentes, vacunas y rutinas posteriores a la COVID” will allow the public to ask questions of local health experts about teen vaccination, need for continued testing, vaccine safety and efficacy, and post-COVID symptoms and precautions.
The panel of experts includes:
- Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, associate professor and director of Health Equity at Duke University;
- Dr. Mae Lynn Reyes- Rodríguez, clinical psychologist at UNC Health;
- Dr. Eliza Hueda, pediatrician and medical director at Syneos Health; and
- Lwiza Garcia Escobar, community engagement specialist at Wake County Human Services.
According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted, general willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has gone up since December. But there's still hesitancy, most notably among Blacks and Latinos. The survey finds that more than half of Latino adults are in no rush to get vaccinated.
The Hispanic and LatinX community continues to be highly under vaccinated despite the targeted efforts that have been made at the county and statewide level. At the start of the pandemic, the Latinx Community experienced higher rates of chronic illness related to COVID-19. Since then, there have been efforts to create access to the vaccine by addressing barriers such as transportation, language barriers, insurance coverage and ensuring that the community is comfortable and does not face a fear of being asked for government issued ID.
“We are committed to helping our residents navigate through these challenging times,” said Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Matt Calabria. “Our virtual town halls provide opportunities for our diverse communities to connect to local experts who share their cultural experiences, create an open space to engage in conversations and have their COVID-19 questions answered.”
Wake County Public Health will stream the informal discussion simultaneously via its virtual Town Hall Facebook and Town Hall YouTube events.
Use this link to watch any episode of the “Ask the Doc” series, which has been offered in both English and Spanish. Again, links to both of tonight’s livestreams can be found at WakeGov.com/AsktheDoc. For more information on the COVID-19 and vaccine, visit WakeGov.com/COVID19.
