Community can participate in virtual town hall focused on COVID-19 vaccines

Holly Kemp, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

May 17—The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is partnering with SCETV and local community leaders to host a special live town hall event about COVID-19 vaccines.

The televised conversation is an opportunity for South Carolinians to hear directly from and ask questions to public health experts, medical professionals and community leaders about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"We recognize that South Carolinians have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. We also know that there is a lot of misinformation and mistrust when it comes to vaccines in general," said DHEC Director Dr. Edward Simmer. "These conversations give our community leaders and residents the chance to have an open discussion about their concerns, have their questions answered by public health experts, and gain the tools they need to help educate and inform others about the importance of getting vaccinated."

The program — called "A Shot of Hope: COVID-19 Vaccine Community Town Hall" — will air statewide at 7 p.m. Thursday on SCETV and will also be streamed live on scetv.org and on the SouthCarolinaETV YouTube channel and Facebook page.

The goal of the town hall is to give community leaders and residents across the state access to the information and resources they need to help answer their questions and empower them to assist others; educate members of their communities about the COVID-19 vaccines; improve access to trusted information and resources; and encourage people to get vaccinated and move South Carolina closer to herd immunity.

The event will feature discussions on: "Our State, Our Communities: The Impact of COVID-19 on South Carolina and its Rural Communities," "COVID-19 and Health Disparities and Communities of Color," and "Across the Generations: The COVID-19 Vaccine."

"We are proud to be partnering with DHEC to bring this timely discussion to viewers across the state. I encourage any South Carolinian concerned about the COVID-19 vaccines to tune in, submit questions and engage with this panel of experts and community leaders," said SCETV President and CEO Anthony Padgett.

To submit a question for the town hall, email VaccineTownHall@scdhec.gov. Submitted questions may be read and answered live during the event.

For more information on SCETV, visit www.scetv.org.