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HCMC Workers Urge Minority Communities To Get Vaccinated

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some doctors and nurses who work at Hennepin Healthcare are making an extra effort to get people of color vaccinated against COVID-19.

On Wednesday, they held a news conference to talk about what they are seeing in the hospital.

"Our hospital is full of people in the ICU who are unvaccinated, young, people of color and they're dying from COVID," Dr. Nneka Sederstrom said. "That's what we know today. Today the people who dying are unvaccinated. That truth needs to ring true. Staying unvaccinated today means its very likely that tomorrow will not be promised."

In Minnesota, the vaccination rate for people 12 and over is at 49% in the Native American community, right at 50% for Black Minnesotans, 56% for Hispanics, 63% for white Minnesotans and 73% for Asians.

Also on Wednesday, the White House Coronavirus Task force announced an average of 900,000 vaccinations are being administered a day, an 80% daily increase compared to July.

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