Questioning The Answer
Prince George’s County Residents Participate In Town Hall Meeting Regarding The Distribution And Safety Of The Covid-19 Vaccine
By Raoul Dennis
Nearly 50,000 County residents and leaders participated in a town hall virtual meeting held by Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks December 18.
The county executive held the town hall in order to announce strategies for distribution of the Coronavirus vaccine and to address questions that residents had regarding the safety, process and application of the medication. (click at right or click here to view full video on the COVID 19 town hall)
“We want to make sure every Prince Georgian is well-informed,” said Alsobrooks at the opening of the town hall event. “The data is clear. The vaccines from Pfizer and from Moderna are safe and effective. Countless public health experts have evaluated these vaccines scientifically and they have all come to the same conclusion: these vaccines can stop COVID-19 but only if we take them.”
The vaccination distribution plan has been established. (Click here and scroll to Vaccination Phased Distribution)
County Council Chair Calvin Hawkins, Dr. Ernest Carter and Dr. George L. Askew, Deputy CAO for Health, Human Services & Education as well as Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Dr. Monica Goldson and Ronnie Gill, director of emergency management. also attended as part of the panel addressing 47,000 concerned Prince Georgians on the matter.
Across the nation, as the Pfizer vaccine has rolled out to health care providers and first responders, millions of African-Americans have been specifically apprehensive toward taking the vaccine. Centuries of medical abuse of minority communities by health care leaders in unofficial and official capacities have created a sense of concern and mistrust by many African-Americans toward the health community. Further, the rapid development of the vaccine has led to concerns about its short and long-term safety.
Alsobrooks and other leaders on the panel pledged to publicly take the vaccine themselves.
“I would never ask anyone to do something that I was not willing to do myself,” Alsobrooks said several times during the discussion. “I plan to take the vaccine when it becomes available.”
The county executive also announced that the vaccination would first be made available to at risk communities and frontline healthcare providers.
Dr. Goldson announced that Prince George’s County Public school system employees will not be required to get the vaccine but will be requested to do so. She further shared that the decision regarding students and the vaccine is one that will be determined at the state level.
Although the Pfizer vaccination was approved and rolled out first, the county is scheduled to get the Moderna vaccine as its primary medication. Moderna has been approved and its rollout to states began December 20. MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center has received the vaccination and has already begun providing it to its staff and colleagues (click here).
The pandemic has affected Prince George’s County since it was first discovered here in March. Since then, there have been over 45,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Prince George’s County. Over 950 Prince George’s County residents have died of the virus.
