More than 150 Chaldean doctors are urging their community to get vaccinated to protect against COVID-19 in an open letter. The message, which can be viewed in both English and Arabic, says the spread of misinformation has caused hesitancy in Michigan’s Chaldean community and prevented them from receiving the vaccine and was co-penned by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and  Dr. Rena Daiza, senior staff family medicine specialist with Henry Ford Health System. “Unfortunately, false information is more contagious than the virus,” the letter reads.

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Closing the racial gap in health outcomes and COVID-19 vaccination rates in Michigan as well as other states is the aim of Michigan State University researchers funded through a $6 million, one-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC grant is for the National Network to Innovate for COVID-19 and Adult Vaccine Equity, or NNICE project.The NNICE project is led by epidemiologist Debra Furr-Holden.

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At the beginning of the year demand for COVID-19 vaccines greatly outweighed supply, now in Michigan more than 260,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are set to expire in the next four weeks. "The fact that we have so much vaccine available but the rate at which people are getting newly vaccinated or completing their vaccine schedule is so slow is really disappointing,” said Debra Furr-Holden, associate dean for public health integration at Michigan State University.

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Michigan is seeing some of the lowest COVID-19 numbers since the beginning of the pandemic but health professionals say it will be a difficult task to reach herd immunity. “I do think it’s now time for us to bring a scalpel to the problem and I think we should be vaccinating people on their front steps. I think we need paid days off for people for COVID vaccination," said Dr. Debra
Furr-Holden.

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the Protect Michigan Commission within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), under which Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha will serve. The focus of the commission is to help raise awareness of the safety and effectiveness of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, as well as educate people.

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Public health leaders in Michighan are working to ensure minority groups are getting the COVID-19 vaccine. "I think the mistrust in the African American and other communities of color and racial and ethnic minorities is valid," said Dr. Debra Furr-Holden. It's why Furr-Holden and several other health and community leaders of michigan, have joined in with Lt. Governor Gilchrist's covid-19 task force on racial disparities.

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The country needs African Americans and other subgroups with lower reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptability rates to take the vaccine. Dr. Debra Furr-Holden shares how she sees an opportunity to improve COVID vaccine acceptance in the African American community in this piece for The Conversation.

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Many Flint residents are Black, and they have long memories of racist treatment by doctors who dismissed or neglected their medical needs. They might not have physicians they trust with questions about their health. "As a public health professional, I see the important need for a safe and credible vaccine to be distributed and administered equitably in our community," shared public health expert Dr. Debra Furr-Holden with NBC News. 

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The pandemic shone a light on the racial disparities that leave Black Americans more susceptible to COVID-19. The disproportionate occupational exposure faced by Black Americans stemmed from wealth inequalities that then gives rise to health inequalities, explains Dr. Debra Furr-Holden.

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Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, co-chairwoman of  Protect Michigan Commission, received her first dose of the vaccine on Monday and she encourages everyone to get their shot. "This is a chance for all of us to be heroes...to step up to get that tiny little shot in the arm to protect not only ourselves, our family, our loved ones, and our greater community," shared Dr. Mona with ABC 12 News.

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If I have allergies, should I get the vaccine? When might kids younger than 16 get vaccinated? Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a public health pediatrician whose research exposed the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, answers questions about the vaccine and allergies, and when kids might be able to get the vaccine. 

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently announced that MSU Public Health faculty member Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, one of four professionals known for their community efforts in Flint, has been placed on a new state committee to educate Michiganders about the
COVID-19 vaccine.

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