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Panel discussion to focus on rural residents’ questions about COVID-19 vaccine

For Immediate Release Feb 22, 2021
An IU School of Medicine student learns how to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
The IU Center for Rural Engagement will host a virtual panel discussion about the COVID-19 vaccine.Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement will connect rural residents with local and statewide health experts to share information about COVID-19 vaccines and answer questions. Rural Indiana’s Shot: A COVID-19 Vaccine Discussion will be a virtual panel discussion at 7 p.m. Feb. 25.

Panelists joining the discussion include Dr. Yolanda Yoder, a physician at Southern Indiana Community Health Care; Dr. Lana Dbeibo, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the IU School of Medicine; Graham McKeen, assistant university director of public and environmental health at IU; and Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer at the Indiana Department of Health. The discussion will be moderated by Katherine Pope, health liaison at the IU Center for Rural Engagement.

“COVID-19 has turned our lives upside down, and the virus’s impacts have rippled across our state, from individual and public health crises and local business challenges to education disruption,” said Kerry Thomson, executive director of the IU Center for Rural Engagement.

“With the development and distribution of vaccines for the novel coronavirus, residents have questions about how the vaccine will affect their personal and family’s health as well as activities in their communities,” Thomson said. “This event offers an opportunity to elevate and address those questions.”

Panelists will share information about the science behind the vaccines and their development, the role the vaccines play in getting back to normal, the vaccines’ side effects and other medical information to consider, and insights regarding rural Indiana’s access to the vaccines.

Hosted as a webinar via the Zoom platform, the event will give attendees the opportunity to ask questions in advance as well as during the live program. The program will also be broadcast via Facebook Live on the IU Center for Rural Engagement’s Facebook page.

Registration and more information about the event are available on the event’s calendar listing.

IU Center for Rural Engagement

The IU Center for Rural Engagement improves the lives of Hoosiers through collaborative initiatives that discover and deploy scalable and flexible solutions to common challenges facing rural communities. Working in full-spectrum community innovation through research, community-engaged teaching and student service, the center builds vision, harnesses assets and cultivates sustainable leadership structures within the communities with which it engages to ensure long-term success.

Media Contact

Center for Rural Engagement

Kyla Cox Deckard

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