MACON, Ga. — As more people continue to get vaccinated, some people are hesitant about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The Kaiser Family Foundation says 43% of Black adults in the country want to wait and see how the vaccine works for others before getting it. A Laurens County doctor says he sees that in his own community with some Black people not trusting the vaccine.
"I grew up one county over -- I'm from Emanuel County, my ancestors have been in that area since the early 1800s," Dr. George Harrison said, who is the Chief Medical Officer at Fairview Park Hospital.
At an early age, Harrison says he knew he had a passion for helping others, "And once I got into hospital medicine, I found my happy medium and I started raising up programs, directing hospital programs, which led me back to Georgia," Harrison said.
Harrison went to Alabama State University for his undergrad and master's, Morehouse for medical school, and Duke University Medical Center for his residency program. In 2015, he arrived at Fairview Park Hospital and is now working on educating Black people in Laurens County on the COVID-19 vaccine.
"There is a lot of mistrust with healthcare in general in the African-American community, I've seen it firsthand being an acting physician for about 22 years now," Harrison said.
Harrison says events like the Tuskegee experiment plus false social media posts about the vaccine have caused distrust in the Black community.
"If I'm OK to get the vaccine, you should be OK to get the vaccine. Number two, we do a lot of rounding in the hospital and outside of the hospital," Harrison said.
Harrison says he speaks with local churches, civic groups, and fraternity and sorority groups.
"His leadership both as a physician and Black physician has had an impact on our community," Donald Avery, President and CEO of Fairview Park Hospital said.
Avery says Harrison's work is helping the community in making sure everyone knows the facts and not misleading information.
"This disease will not just disappear -- we have to be proactive in making sure we are doing and giving ourselves the ability to fight this virus off," Harrison said.
Harrison also talks to the community about equity in healthcare and how people can get easily vaccinated.