Written by: Adam Pope
Charles Barkley is urging Alabamians to get stuck with Chuck.
The Leeds, Ala., and NBA basketball legend brings his plea for widespread vaccination against COVID-19 to a vaccine rally on Saturday, Aug. 28. The event, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC), will provide walk up and drive in vaccines at Legion Field on Aug. 28, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The vaccines are free. Drive through vaccines will be delivered by a team led by Celeste Reese-Willis, M.D., a family and urgent care physician. Walk up vaccines will be administered by Alabama Regional Medical Services, a Federally-Qualified Health Center serving the greater Birmingham area.
Barkley will provide encouragement and support to those getting vaccinated. He will address the attendees at approximately 11:30 a.m.
“I am grateful that Charles agreed to help us encourage Alabamians to get vaccinated,” said Mona Fouad, Director of the UAB MHRC and Principal Investigator for Alabama CEAL (Community Engagement Alliance against COVID-19 Disparities). “Charles is a longtime supporter of the MHRC who is passionate about addressing health disparities. He brings his unique voice to the urgent need to stop the spread of COVID-19 by increasing the number of vaccinated people in Alabama.”
Alabama CEAL a project funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), is a sponsor for the Vaccine Rally, along with media partners V-94 radio and WVTM-TV.
Food trucks will be onsite, and there will be free t-shirts for the first 300 people to be vaccinated. There will not be opportunities for autographs.
Vaccines are safe and effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19. All persons 12 and older are eligible to be vaccinated. There is a surge in hospitalizations due to COVID-19, and currently, about 90 percent of those hospitalized are unvaccinated. About 190 million people in America have been vaccinated, but only about 35 percent of Alabamians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
