A Hopkinsville business owner who serves on the Christian County Board of Education has joined a campaign to encourage Black Kentuckians to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Tom Bell, who owns a State Farm Insurance agency, appeared in a virtual news conference Thursday morning to help launch “I Got the Shot.” It’s a campaign organized by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the Kentucky Nurses Association to address concerns among Black Kentuckians who have experienced racism in the health care system and know the history of unethical medical experiments in the United States.
“COVID has touched people close to me, near and dear to my heart. I’ve seen them put on ventilators. I know people who have coded three times. I take it very seriously,” Bell said.
Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said getting the vaccine helps protect everyone and that it’s “critical to getting back to our lives” in the commonwealth.
“But if, in your experience, medical care hasn’t always proven to be helpful to you and your loved ones, you’re naturally going to have concerns about these vaccines. Health advocates can’t just brush these concerns aside. People need answers. The spokespersons in this campaign are trusted messengers in their communities who are helping to provide those answers,” he said.
The Christian County Health Department is now offering vaccine appointments for all Kentuckians in Phase 1C. The department operates a regional distribution site at the James E. Bruce Convention Center.
Timely information about vaccine availability in Christian County is also available on Hoptown Chronicle’s COVID-19 page.
Modernettes Civic Club, a Black women’s service group in Hopkinsville, has also been involved in work to encourage more Africans Americans to get the vaccine.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
