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Feature
Local Chapter Of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Hosted COVID Forum To Encourage Taking Vaccine
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Staff Writer
On Saturday, February 6, 2021, the local chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, In- corporated, led by Polemarch Roland Daniels, hosted a public information zoom fea- turing Dr. Kevin Sneed, the Dean of the Taneja School of Pharmacy at the University of South Florida (USF).
Dr. Sneed, who is a mem- ber of the fraternity, is also ex- ecutive director of Workgroup Enhancing Community Advo- cacy and Research Engage- ment (WE-CARE). The WE-CARE mission is to “advo- cate for and oversee research activities within minority and medically underserved commu- nities in the Tampa Bay area.
Dr. Sneed and WE-CARE have been highly involved in COVID research and vaccine advocacy in the Tampa Bay area.
However, the novel coron- avirus known as COVID-19 has been much more contagious and deadly than the other viruses. Another issue is the
mutation of the virus as new strains are found.
Dr. Sneed showed two videos on how the COVID virus cell develops, spreads, and ad- heres to cells in the body by locking onto human cells and engulfing the human cells. He then showed a video that ex- plains how the vaccine can dis- rupt the COVID infection process by creating anti-bodies. The anti-bodies prevent COVID locking onto the cells in our body by blocking the “adher- ence” of the COVID cell. The process is like Velcro, the COVID stick onto cells then holds on.
The cells that are most sus- ceptible to COVID are in the heart, lungs, kidneys, and blood. There are currently two vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson has applied for review of their vac- cine.
Dr. Sneed says that right now, “a vaccine is a vaccine” and people need to get vacci- nated. Efficacy is less impor- tant right now as long as people get a vaccine. The side-effects of the vaccine are mild fatigue,
Black person receiving vaccine. Dr. Kizzmekia Cor- bett helped develop the COVID vaccine for Moderna.
headaches, mild fever, and chills. In most cases the side ef- fects are minor. These effects are a good thing, as it shows that the body is producing the anti-bodies needed to fight
COVID.
Dr. Sneed addresses the
skepticism that many people hold against the vaccine such as the swiftness of the vaccine being developed and produced. He says that it was former President Barack Obama that developed a pandemic strategy and developed the in- frastructure upon which these vaccines were developed.
The then-president and his team developed a game plan after some of the outbreaks like Ebola.
Black physicians such as Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the president of the National Medical Association (NMA), Leon McDougle, M.D. have led the fight in terms of oversight and dedica- tion to bringing the vaccine to
people of color, especially African Americans. Their fight for equitable distribution is shared by Dr. Sneed.
One of the issues being seen now is distrust of the vaccine in the Black community. Because of historical atrocities such as the Tuskegee Experiment and Henrietta Lacks, African Americans can be distrustful of vaccines and national medi- cine. Last June, Dr. Sneed took on the crusade of reaching out to our community and edu- cating citizens on the severe danger of COVID for Black and brown people. People with dia- betes, heart disease, or obesity are likely to have poor out- comes when contracting COVID.
For more information, please visit https://health.usf.- edu/pharmacy/we-care.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY PAGE 9-A