FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Gov. Andy Beshear visited Louisville Friday and urged Black Kentuckians to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Beshear joined NAACP leaders to speak about the hesitancy among some in the Black community with getting the shot. The governor visited the NAACP’s west Louisville office. Several residents received the vaccine at the office from Norton Healthcare, according to a release from the governor’s office.
The governor’s office said Black Kentuckians only account for about 4.6% of those in the state who have been vaccinated.
“African-Americans are infected with COVID-19 at nearly three times the rate of white Americans and are twice as likely to die from the virus,” said Raoul Cunningham, president of the NAACP Louisville chapter.
Beshear said this week that the state now has about 410 vaccine centers.
Officials reported 1,180 new cases of the virus on Friday. There were 30 newly reported deaths, for a total of 4,600 since the pandemic reached Kentucky about a year ago.
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