MACON, Ga. — Scott's Healthmart Pharmacy is one of only a few independent pharmacies here in Central Georgia that are offering both COVID-19 tests and now vaccines. Founder Dr. Wade Scott says there's now another issue he wants to tackle.
"People have a lot of concerns about the vaccine. Is it safe? Will it give me the virus?" says Dr. Wade Scott, founder of Scott's Healthmart Pharmacy on Pio Nono Avenue
He says a top priority is spreading awareness about the COVID-19 vaccines.
"Too large of a percentage of the population is still hesitant about taking the vaccine," says Scott.
The CDC says out of about 95 million Americans who have received at least one dose, about eight percent, or 4 million of those people, are Black.
Scott says the disparity led he and a group of people to create a new organization, the Middle Georgia Council of Health and Wellness Disparities, and help develop its first campaign.
"We got together, myself, Scott's Pharmacy, along with a group of ministers in the community as well as community leaders and said, 'Hey, let's do something about it,'" he says.
The video features prominent Black leaders from across Central Georgia who are all vaccinated.
"If your pastor got on and says, 'I got my shot,' if your local pharmacist says, 'I got my shot,' oftentimes in the minority community, people that look like you are saying, 'You know, I got my shot and I survived,'" says Scott.
Scott says the organization plans to feature the campaign on social media, TV, and radio to show the variety of people speaking up and rolling up their sleeves.
According to the CDC, Georgia has administered more than 3.7 million vaccinations.