NCDHHS to Host Livestream Cafecito and Tele-Town Hall on COVID-19 Vaccines, Boosters, Safety During Surge and More | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    RALEIGH     The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live Cafecito and Spanish language tele-town hall on Thursday, Feb. 3, from 6 -7p.m. to discuss COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, testing and more.

    Key topics include:

• The recent surge in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations
• Steps to protect yourself and your household by masking, testing and more
• New guidance on vaccines and boosters for kids ages 5 to 11, teens and adults
• When to isolate or quarantine, and how the two differ

    Participants include Kody H. Kinsley, NCDHHS Secretary; Yazmin Garcia Rico, Director of Hispanic/Latinx Policy and Strategy at NCDHHS; Edgar Vergara, Pastor and Executive Director at Iglesia La Semilla; and Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, M.D., FAAFP, Associate Professor and Director for Health Equity at Duke University's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi is also a co-founder of the Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19, better known as LATIN-19.

    The Cafecito will livestream from the NCDHHS social media accounts and will also include a tele-town hall feature. Households will be invited by phone to listen in and submit questions to help ensure everyone who is interested can participate. People can also dial into the event by calling 855-756-7520 Ext. 78552#.

    This event comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its recommendations for boosters for kids and adults, as well as its guidance on when to isolate and quarantine. Boosters are now recommended for children ages 12-15, and the wait time for boosters for anyone who received Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines has been reduced from 6 months to 5 months.

    To date, 72.2% of North Carolina's Hispanic population 12 years and older has been vaccinated with at least one dose, and 76.5% of the Hispanic population 18 years and older has been vaccinated with at least one dose.

    NCDHHS Cafecitos and tele-town halls are part of the state's ongoing public engagement to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure equitable access to timely information, resources and COVID-19 vaccines.

    The NCDHHS social media platforms will host the livestream: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

    To access the Cafecito, click on one of the links provided above at 6 p.m. on Thursday.


    Contact:

    North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

    Email: news@dhhs.nc.gov     Phone: (919) 855-4840