Health officials work to build trust, bust vaccine myths
University Hospitals
Jether Tiller, 90, receives her COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospitals. Her family shared a video of the process on social media.
The first day COVID-19 vaccines were available to the public, 90-year-old Jether Tiller of Maple Heights was at University Hospitals bright and early, ready for her appointment.
She wants everybody to take the same step, so her family shared a video on social media of her vaccination. A lot of them were saying, you know, If your mother s 90 years old and got it, then I can get it also, Tiller said.
University Hospitals
The focus of the new webinar series is the underrepresented population around the health center, named for the Rev. Otis Moss Jr.
The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus is calling on Gov. Mike DeWine to prioritize getting the COVID-19 vaccine to Black Ohioans. And the head of a medical center in a predominantly Black Cleveland neighborhood agrees that expanded access is needed.
Dr. Carla Harwell is medical director of University Hospitals Otis Moss Jr. Health Center in the Fairfax neighborhood. She says there are likely several reasons for the low vaccine rate among Black people in Cuyahoga County.
She agrees with the OLBC that many Black neighborhoods simply don’t have the kinds of establishments where vaccines are being offered namely, grocery stores and pharmacies. And she says Black patients may be skeptical of providers who don’t look like them.