First published at 19:54 UTC on February 18th, 2021.
Joe Biden gave his very first town hall as President last night (Feb. 17) on CNN, and unlike his predecessor, connecting with voters on an empathetic level is his biggest draw. However, like every person in power, he made a pretty big faux paus when…
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Joe Biden gave his very first town hall as President last night (Feb. 17) on CNN, and unlike his predecessor, connecting with voters on an empathetic level is his biggest draw. However, like every person in power, he made a pretty big faux paus when addressing the vaccine disparity among Black and Latino communities.
The town hall took place in Milwaukee, and a local doctor asked why out of all the vaccines administered, only 3% of Black people and 5% of Latinos had received the vaccine, despite being two of the communities hardest hit by COVID-19.
Biden’s response was two parts. First, after he reminded the doctor of why the Black and Latino communities are distrusting of vaccines, being that Black people were used as “guinea pigs and other experiments,” for far too long in our history. Biden also addressed the lack of walk up vaccine centers for marginalized communities who do not have access to cars. He plans on sending community health centers, which “take care of the toughest of the toughest neighborhoods in terms of illness,” a million vaccine doses a week (though that claim was challenged by fact checkers). He also addressed his administration’s plans to send mobile units to neighborhoods most impacted.
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