Dear friends and family I know & have yet to meet,
The video below comes about from a convergence amongst relationships in my life.
The convergence begins with my sister Susana Morales MD. She has been on the front lines of the Covid crisis confronting the devastation wrought by this virus (SARS-CoV2) in a Manhattan Hospital. She is clear-eyed about the importance of vaccination in getting Covid under control. Her clarity extends to the responsibility those of us with training and expertise have to our communities. We are bound to help them benefit from advances in biomedicine by overcoming legitimate historical concerns and current-day misinformation. Since she knows we’re in complete agreement, and that I’ve done this kind of work before, she asked me to prepare a scientific presentation that would be directed to the public.
Continuing, my prima (Lisa Brandon Colon) and I were communicating for some time about the need for educational materials about vaccines in her hospital. In her front line position in Training & Volunteer Services in a Bronx Hospital, she also had growing disquiet about how to help the community deal with their concerns and misinformation. After various discussions, I realized the best way for her to have good materials was to make them myself.
Lastly, when many of my friends in texts and calls were asking questions about the Covid vaccine, it was clear I had to act. Therefore, given my responsibility as a scientist of color and equipped with my education, experience, and research, I made this short video of a presentation I prepared about SARS-CoV2 and the vaccines.
The way I see it, it’s also MY job to help get our communities vaccinated to combat the Pandemic. My job description also includes combating the rampant misinformation and anti-science attitudes in our public discussions. Lastly, I must help our democracy by providing people with accurate scientific information so that they may make wiser decisions about government pandemic policies currently being enacted.
Arguably, Covid is THE issue facing humanity today (although Climate change might disagree!). As many have noted, the many-headed hydra that is Covid has brought forward many social issues and injustices that have been long incubating in our society. These issues have particular importance given the burdens of illness and death borne by the Black and Brown communities of New York City and beyond. We must do what we can to take on these dire challenges.
Thus, I present to you this short video that shares info about the virus and two of the vaccines currently available.
pepitothinking 