Black Health Launches "Get Me Vaxxed" Campaign for Black History Month

The 35-year-old Non-Profit to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations For Black Children Across the United States

HARLEM, N.Y., Jan. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Health, the Harlem, NY based nonprofit organization that champions the promotion of health and prevention of diseases to reduce disparities and achieve equity within the black community launches Get Me Vaxxed, the new campaign for Black History Month. The campaign is part of a broader endeavor to boost black health at a time when health outcomes for black communities generally continue to be concerning and lag behind those of other groups. The campaign aims to raise COVID-19 vaccinations amongst black children aged 6-months to 5-years old.

Get Me Vaxxed comes on the heels of a November 2022 CDC report which concluded that just 8.8 percent of 2- to 4-year-olds had at least one dose of the vaccine, a rate that researchers, pediatricians and others consider to be way too low. Those vaccination rates trail a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis alarmingly showing that, in most states collecting the data, far fewer Black 5- to 11-year-olds than white kids in that age group had been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"My upper arm bears a mark left by a life-saving vaccine I received back when I was an Alabama schoolgirl. With Get Me Vaxxed, we are centering our overriding determination that Black children will be protected against a disease that now is endemic, just like the flu is," said C. Virginia Fields, Black Health's President and CEO.

The new campaign will launch in six key demographics facing racial disparities in vaccinations and where Black Health has extensive partnerships: Atlanta, GA; Baton Rouge, LA; Columbia, SC; New York City and Syracuse, NY; and Tuskegee, AL. Black Health will target black families using grassroots outreach as well as traditional and social media channels.

About Black Health:

Black Health is a 35-year-old nonprofit organization that started out as the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS — to improve Black well-being. In addition to our ongoing HIV initiatives, we're addressing Black mental health, breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, sickle cell disease, disparities in health care delivery and resources and the sometimes-troublesome encounters between Black patients and health care providers.

Ms. Fields is available for interviews about the campaign and goals, especially across New York City; please contact: Kim Wilson Marshall, Wilson Marshall PR + Events, [email protected] or 646.721.4375

SOURCE Black Health