Dr. Anthony Fauci

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wholeheartedly supports President Joe Biden’s initiative with Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons to get more African Americans vaccinated. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director and the nation’s foremost authority on the coronavirus, Dr. Fauci, called the president’s tactic solid. In a discussion with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), Dr. Fauci added that medical and administration officials have a laser-like focus on meeting the president’s goal of having 70 percent of all adults vaccinated by Independence Day. “That’s the reason why you see what [President Biden] is doing, and all of us are doing to get people vaccinated,” Dr. Fauci asserted. “We want to make it very easy for people to get the vaccine.” President Biden declared June as a month of action and announced a “Shots at the Shop” initiative that unites 1,000 African American-owned barbershops and beauty salons in the country to serve as vaccination hubs. The initiative comes with incentives like free child-care for parents and other perks. “We want to give incentives and do whatever we can to get people to get vaccinated,” Dr. Fauci stated. He noted that the NNPA, the trade association of the hundreds of Black-owned newspaper and media companies, is a trusted voice in the nation’s African American communities. “That’s why I am speaking with you today,” Dr. Fauci insisted. “The Black Press is vital, it is trusted, and we need to get the word out and get everyone vaccinated.” To view Dr. Fauci’s entire interview with the Black Press, register today and tune into the NNPA’s annual summer convention. It is free to register at http://www.virtualnnpa2021.com. Headlined by music icon Chaka Khan, the convention begins on Wednesday, June 23.