Answering Your COVID-19 Questions: COVID TOWN HALL sponsored by San Luis Obispo County Office of Education, San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department and NAACP San Luis Obispo County Branch.
Overwhelmed by the amount of COVID-19 information and misinformation and constantly changing recommendations about how to stay safe? The SLO County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wants to help. It is offering an online COVID-19 Town Hall (https://bit.ly/feb1townhall) on February 1, 2022,
7 – 8 p.m. to provide the latest medical answers to critical COVID-19 questions. You can submit written questions when you sign up and during the town hall. Simultaneous interpretation for Spanish speakers will be available.
Hear from trusted local medical professionals on variants, boosters, vaccines and how to protect yourself and your family. Panelists include Dr. Kevin Ferguson, Dr. Miriam Lomelino, and Dr. Renee Bravo. Dr. Ferguson said “The New Year has brought new challenges. This town hall will offer the opportunity to talk about changes in current testing and treatment strategies”.
Potential COVID Town Hall topics include pediatric vaccine issues, reducing Omicron spread, vaccination effectiveness at preventing serious COVID-19, and the safety of vaccines.
This town hall is one of the outreach activities being offered by the NAACP SLO County Branch as part of their effort to educate and bring awareness to the community. This event is partially funded by a grant from California Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP. The grant’s goal is to increase vaccination uptake, particularly for our communities hardest hit by COVID-19. The focus is on reaching people who are the least likely to have access to vaccines services, health care, or who have high rates of vaccine hesitancy.
Other activities funded by this grant include partnering with the Public Health Department to offer COVID-19 vaccines at a mobile clinic in Paso Robles in November, 2021, as well as promoting vaccination and disseminating COVID-19 information via digital infographics, bus signage, and billboards.
“The grant is timely because nationwide, there have been lower vaccination rates but higher hospitalization and death rates for Black and Latino compared to white and Asian-American communities”, said NAACP SLO County President Stephen Vines. “We are trying to change that.”
Hesitancy to vaccinate among the Black community is partly due to a mistrust of the medical establishment. Increased hospitalization and death rates across the country also may be influenced by substandard medical care that too often occurs for Black individuals. President Vines says, “Our grant activities help move us towards NAACP’s vision of a society in which all individuals have equal rights, and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.”
For more information from NAACP SLO County Branch, see https://naacpslocty.org; Facebook: NAACPSLO or contact
San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department at SLOPublicHealth.org/Covid19.
Here is the link to register: bit.ly/feb1townhall