Vaccination Event at Morris Brown College in Atlanta

Hi everyone, it's Mandy Cohen, CDC Director, and I am here at Morris Brown College. I'm here with the President, Dr. James, and I'm here with a great partner of ours from the Conference of National Black Churches. This is Jackie Burton, she's amazing, and they have been working with the CDC on vaccinations throughout the pandemic. They've done more than a million COVID vaccines, and I can't tell you how important a partnership with our historically black colleges and partnership with our black churches around the country has been. I just wanted you guys to get a chance to meet them. So why don't I turn it over to Dr. James first, and then I'd love for you to hear from Jackie as well. Sure. My name is Kevin James. I'm honored to serve as the President of Morris Brown College. HBCU founded in 1881, 142 years ago. We are elated to partner with you all today to provide this service to our community. Continue to watch Morris Brown College as we continue to expand what we're doing here through what we call the Heart Reset. Welcome. Thank you. All right. And Dr. Burton, tell us about, you're just a legend, so first, thank you, but tell me about the work that you've been doing vaccinating the community. Great. The CDC contacted us at CNBC, the Conference of National Black Churches, when the pandemic first started and said, can you help us get the word into the African American community? Well, of course we can. Black churches are the center of our communities, and it has worked. They have, I won't give you the number, but multi-millions of dollars since 2020, and we are delighted. We're in our third year of funding and looking toward the fourth year, but it has made a difference. Our churches, through our six largest historically black denominations, have worked very hard, and that's how we ended up with over a million vaccines through our churches, through community centers, nursing homes, even some hospitals, but it has made a difference. We could not have done this unless CDC believed in us. Well, we love that partnership, and we've been talking a lot about building trust, and so making sure that we have access points where folks can get the vaccine close to their community as well as from people that they trust and hear from folks that they trust. So we are grateful, again, to be here at historically black universities and to partner with our black churches. Make sure you're going out and protecting yourself. Get vaccinated today. COVID, flu, and RSV.