SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS HOSTS VIRTUAL EVENT TO DEBUNK CORONAVIRUS MYTHS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

Online discussion hopes to decrease vaccine hesitancy in local Black community

Source:  San Diego Association of Black Journalists

September 15, 2021 (San Diego) - On the heels of the County of San Diego Board of Supervisors declaring misinformation as a public health crisis, the San Diego Association of Black Journalists (SDABJ) will host a thoughtful virtual discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 22 to debunk myths about the coronavirus, and discuss vaccine hesitancy in the San Diego Black community. A panel of five distinguished Black doctors from the San Diego community will lend their expertise on these topics and answer any questions or concerns the community has about the coronavirus. 

This free virtual event starts at 6 p.m. PDT via Zoom and is open to the public. The event will also be live streamed via SDABJ’s Facebook page

 

Leading the discussion will be SDABJ Vice President Angela De Joseph, as well as co-moderators Lauren J. Mapp with The San Diego Union-Tribune and Natay Holmes with ABC 10News. The esteemed panelists include the following (in alphabetical order):

 

 

  • Dr. Suzanne Afflalo, Director, Alliance Health Clinic Family Physician
  • Dr. Robert Gillespie, Cardiologist, SHARP Health Care
  • Dr. Rodney G. Hood, Physician, President & Chairman, Multicultural Health Foundation
  • Dr. Akilah Weber, Assemblymember District 79, Obstetrician and Gynecologist
  • Dr. Wilma Wooten, Public Health Officer & Director of Public Health Services San Diego County

 

San Diego County is the first in the state of California to declare misinformation a public health crisis amid the rise of the Delta variant of Covid-19. To do its part to cut through the misinformation and help the San Diego Black community navigate the pandemic, this SDABJ event will help dispel myths about the coronavirus and vaccines. Panelists will also discuss how the coronavirus impacts Black communities in San Diego and give insights on how the public could work together to stop the spread of the virus.

 

Interested in attending? Visit https://bit.ly/sdabjcovid19 to register. Any questions or concerns for the panelists can also be submitted here in advance of the event.

 

About San Diego Association of Black Journalists

The San Diego Association of Black Journalists (SDABJ) is the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). SDABJ is a 501(c) (3) organization, and was founded in 2000 by a small group of journalists and communications professionals, including Jim Trotter, Maria Hunt, Jerry McCormick, Ozzie Roberts, Gil Griffin, Bernie Jones, Samuel Autman, Lisa Lake, Booker Crenshaw and Kelly Williams. SDABJ has approximately twenty registered members working in print, broadcast, public relations and academia.

 

The nonprofit organization’s goals include increasing the number of Black journalists in management positions and encouraging Black journalists to become entrepreneurs. SDABJ works to foster an exemplary group of professionals that honors excellence and outstanding achievements by Black journalists, and outstanding achievement in the media industry as a whole, particularly when it comes to providing balanced coverage of the Black community and society at large. The organization works with high schools and colleges to identify and encourage Black students to become journalists and to diversify faculties and related curriculum, and are also committed to providing informational and training services to the general public. All fundraising efforts go toward academic scholarships and its student training programs such as “Pro for a Day,” a journalism boot camp where students are taught how to produce their own news stories on a variety of platforms under the tutelage of professional journalists. Learn more at www.sdabj.org.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.