Motivated to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic among persons of color, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) recently brought together African American business leaders and elected officials to discuss the plight of Black businesses during the continued pandemic.
Under the auspices of its “It Takes a Village” theme, the statewide organization has rolled out a Black & Vaxxed campaign to increase COVID-19 vaccinations.
VaShone Huff, co-director of Black & Vaxxed, said the campaign’s focus on ensuring business’ continued health builds on existing connections with the faith community.
“We care about any and every issue that challenges our community’s well being. COVID-19 is such an issue,” said campaign co-director and BWOPA Executive Director LaNiece Jones.
Black & Vaxxed is working in partnership with the hashtag #WEVAXX and the California Department of Health to empower the Black community to make informed decisions about vaccines.
“We know our public health is being politicized and that is not right, but we have to move beyond our fears to protect ourselves and those we love,” Jones said.
The discussion, “It Takes A Village: A Conversation on the Business and Politics of the Pandemic,” drew remarks and participation from Timothy Simon, chair of the California African American Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Renee Poole, president-elect of the Association of Black Women Physicians; Christopher Richardson Earl of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development; Charles Chappie Jones, San Jose’s vice mayor; and state Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus.
Sen. Kamlager said it’s difficult to imagine, two years after the pandemic’s outbreak, that we still face statewide mask mandates for public indoor venues.
As people are traveling and gathering indoors for the holidays, recent data has confirmed the fears of public health experts: California and the Bay Area are seeing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations.
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COVID-19 has become deadlier for Black Californians since the widespread availability of vaccinations, and vaccine hesitancy could be among the reasons why. People of other races, who have higher vaccination rates, have seen death rates rise, but not as dramatically.
