let s talk about this. what s your general what s the general reaction and feedback you re getting to an attempt to vaccinate more kids? so the children who have not had access and opportunity jump at the chance. i have an educational session and i ask them, if you ve been vaccinated, tell me why. if you haven t, tell me why not. that starts the conversation. i m able to dispel myths and for my high schoolers, most of them thought that they needed parental consent, that they needed insurance, and that they needed id to get vaccinated. when i tell them that s not the case, many of them are jumping at the opportunity to get vaccinated. you know, when you first started testing, before there was a vaccine, part of the issue was in the areas you were dealing with, particularly the areas with high black populations in philadelphia, a lot of people didn t have doctors, some of these areas were almost health care deserts if you will, so testing was not
coronavirus and we have to be prepared for the new variants. i m trying to get a health care center at every single housing development. many of these housing developments are like small towns. they have thousands of people living there. we should have and some of the most undervaccinated areas are these housing developments. i m trying to get health care centers. i opened up one at queens bridge. i hope we ll have one at astoria houses. i totally agree, because many of them are in health care deserts. thank you for being with us, congresswoman maloney. joining me now is our msnbc political analyst and democratic strat ji juanita tolliver and msnbc political analyst susan delpressio. juanita, let me go to you first. there s a lot of concern about roe versus wade after the supreme court heard arguments
how black folks and their outcomes are scene. this is large-scale policy and law, and not just the racism that happens between people leading to this. i don t think people realize if you are dealing with cities and towns that have health deserts, health care deserts, no hospitals or medical facilities, all of this comes down to an already clear racial gap in how health is dealt with this our community. dr. jackson, i recently got my pfizer booster shot and flu shot at the hospital in new york city. since the beginning of the pandemic, i have worked to help black americans trust the science and get vaccinated, so we can protect our community and loved ones. so many things have been done to
those that want to learn and do better, but we need to tell the truth, racism is a cause of poor health for our patients. what else can be done for people that get vaccinations. we have a lot of health care deserts, a lot of our communities, black communities around the country don t have hospitals or health facilities near them and they have to drive in many cases that raises other issues. what needs to be done to help get our communities vaccinated? the numbers have gone up but it s not where we need it to be. dr. jackson, and doctor you can start, dr. jackson. i looked at her because we have a lot of thoughts about this. it s a time when we need to refer them to folks who have