PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Biden administration pledged every American adult will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine by May, but there are still a lot of concerns over vaccine hesitancy. However, a group is creating videos to debunk some ideas.
The series is called "The Conversation: Between Us, About Us" - made by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Black Coalition Against COVID.
"The first thing we hope it does is shift some of the focus in how we as a public have come to talk about black folks and the vaccines," said pediatrician and public health advocate Dr. Rhea Boyd, who co-developed the videos.
She said there are two main questions out there right now that the videos address: is the vaccine safe and how much does it cost?
"Most Americans and Black Americans included - more than 80% - are concerned about whether the vaccines are safe," she said. "Common questions that are shared across racial and ethnic groups, and even by folks in the medical community."
Black doctors, nurses and researchers are featured in the videos, answering questions and providing information about COVID-19 vaccines.
"We know that it's hard to find sometimes a trusted source for information," she said, "so we wanted to let people know who exactly was talking to them, where they come from and share some of the facts that we know from the growing evidence that tells us that these vaccines are safe and incredibly effective."
Boyd said she hopes the videos can help in this era of misinformation.
"Black folks also have the extra sophistication that they've gained from actually being mistreated within our healthcare system, historically and for many people from their own experiences."
