- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johnson & Johnson.

The North Ward Center.

NJM Insurance Group.

Serving New Jersey'’s drivers, homeowners and business owners for more than 100 years.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

And by Fedway Associates, Inc.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ, informing and connecting businesses in New Jersey.

And by New Jersey Monthly, the magazine of the Garden State.

Available at newsstands.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- Look at this.

You get this?

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- Do you enjoy talking politics?

- No.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

- Our culture, I don't think has ever been tested in the way it's being tested right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - We're now joined by Dr. Don Liss, Chief Medical Officer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Good to see a doctor.

- Pleasure meeting you.

- Let me also say that out of the box that Horizon is an underwriter of our program and of NJ Spotlight News.

Doctor, let ask you, we're taping on the 13th of January.

This will be seen later.

What's the most important message you wanna deliver to everyone watching about the COVID vaccine?

- That they should follow the recommendations of the respected public health agencies, that is the Centers for Disease Control and the New Jersey Department of Health.

That they should pursue vaccine when their turn and the prioritization comes up and they should do so as recommended by those public health authorities.

- And to Dr. Liss's point, the websites will be up from the CDC and the State of New Jersey.

Things are changing literally every day as we speak as relates to COVID and the vaccine.

Let me ask you, for Horizon, the primary role that your organization is playing as it relates to COVID and dealing with COVID through the vaccine.

- Sure.

In terms of the vaccine we probably have three very specific roles.

One is to make sure access for vaccination is available to our membership.

Two, to make sure that we're providing accurate reliable information to our members on how they can access vaccine.

And then third, making sure that we're providing coverage for the vaccine.

That is when we get claims for the administration of vaccines, we're paying those efficiently and making sure that we're not holding up the works in how vaccine is distributed in New Jersey.

- By the way, doctor, you have said that you're not the real doctor in your family.

That your wife is in fact, a primary care internist If I'm not mistaken, correct?

- That is correct.

- How challenging has it been, because you understand this better than most, for frontline physicians, nurses, and others but particularly physicians, how challenging 10 months into this, this will be seen later a year, 13, 14 months after, how challenging has it been for them?

- It's been challenging on all sorts of fronts.

So with regard to vaccination making sure that the information they're providing to their patients is sound accurate and up-to-date.

More generally making sure that they know how best to access testing, for example, which was at an incredible challenge earlier in the stages of the pandemic.

And then making sure that the most accurate and up-to-date information about COVID-19, how to manage patients with the disease, what treatments are emerging and how to access those is available, known and actionable.

- A question about public acceptance.

And again, the statistics are changing.

We're taping on the 13th of January.

It'll be seen later but of the numbers can be alarming out of the box in terms of the number of frontline clinicians, physicians, nurses, et cetera, who are reluctant, who appear to be reluctant to take the vaccine.

A, does that concern you B, how much do you believe that will change over time?

- So it, it certainly concerns me.

And I'm hopeful that over time that'll improve as their colleagues accept vaccine, as we learn more about how vaccine performs and as respected public health agencies promulgate their message.

- How confident are you about this vaccine?

Say, someone says, you know this was pretty quick.

This, and by the way, the term warp speed scares some folks.

Really do we want warp speed.

But you've been around, you've seen different vaccines at different times even though COVID-19 is novel, right?

What gives you reason to be as confident as you are about the effectiveness and the safety of this vaccine?

- So I've taken the time to read the materials presented to the FDA and the what's known as the ACIP, a committee of experts convened to recommend vaccination practices, and I have every confidence that the diligence they've exerted in their review of the safety, efficacy and effectiveness of vaccination is sound.

My wife has received her first dose as she's a frontline healthcare worker.

I have every intention of being in-line as soon as possible when my turn on the priority list comes up.

So I'm satisfied that appropriate diligence is present.

- Last question, I know horizon deeply committed particularly as it relates to communities of color the message you have for African-Americans, Hispanics particularly who are reluctant about the vaccine.

What do you say?

- Follow the advice of the respective public health authorities and your regular source of care.

Those are your best resources for protecting yourself as they have been all throughout this pandemic.

- Dr. Don Liss is the Chief Medical Officer of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Dr. Liss, we thank you so much.

And to you and all the other clinicians, physicians, nurses respiratory therapists, others who are out there every day.

We thank you so much for what you do for all of us.

Thank you, doctor.

- Thank you for the opportunity.

- We'll be right back right after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Back by popular demand.

We're joined by our good friend, Dr. Perry Halkitis.

Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Doctor, good to see you.

- Good to see you too Steve.

- Taping on the 13th of January, this will be seen later.

Let me ask you this.

As people see the CDC website the New Jersey COVID vaccine website.

Say this program is seen February 13th, March 13th, where should we be in New Jersey and nationally as it relates to vaccine distribution?

- It is my hope that as a country and as a state by April, May, latest June, we have the majority of people vaccinated in this country and are establishing herd immunity.

The ideal situation for us as a nation is to be able to have a summer where finally we're able to return to some sense of normalcy.

That's the ideal situation for us.

- Doctor, the resistance, particularly in certain communities, you've written, you've talked, you've been, by the way, people who want to check out what's going on every day, check out NJ Spotlight News, also Metro Focus, our public television partners and colleagues.

Communities, African-American, Latino communities.

The level of resistance, there's resistance in a lot of pockets of population, but in those communities do you believe the level of resistance will change significantly over the next several months to the vaccine?

- So, I think you're right to say that there's resistance in every community.

- There is.

- And I will point to my cousin who's a school teacher with a master's degree who texted me yesterday should I get the vaccine?

And my response was, of course you should get the vaccine.

However, LatinX and Black populations have particular concerns because they have a history of facing issues that are imposed upon them by the medical profession.

- Getting shafted by the government and lied to, whether you talk about the Tuskegee experiment back in the 1930s, you can check it out if you really want to know how badly the government lied to African-Americans in that they were used as guinea pigs if you will.

Help us understand why that historical context matters Doctor.

- Because it creates a distrust, a mistrust of the medical professions which by the way, is not gone, right?

There are still, there are differences in ways that white physicians and other physicians deal with Black populations as compared to white populations.

And there is a level of discrimination that's inherit and a level of implicit bias that's inherent that Black folk and Brown folk face on a daily basis in their lives, including from their medical providers.

And therefore you see this reaction to the vaccination.

- Doctor, let me ask you, this is a series we're doing on COVID vaccine, what you need to know.

Okay.

We do our role in government and the media.

A, what do you believe our role is in the media, as it relates to vaccine education awareness, then I'm going to ask you about the role of high profile figures, particularly in the minority community.

First about the media, what is the best role, most appropriate role we can play Doctor.

- So I think the media has an important role to play in getting out the science and the facts.

I think we have lived for several years now with misinformation about science.

You know, I said to a friend earlier, yes, you know, gay people were discriminated against in the eighties for HIV.

Scientists have been discriminated against in the last few years in the United States.

- Scientists.

I'm sorry for interrupting.

Science and scientists have been discriminated against?

- Yeah.

We've been cast aside.

We've been diminished.

We've been ridiculed.

We've been told that our work doesn't matter.

This anti-intellectual, anti-academic movement that's precipitated in our country has sort of undermined the work that scientists have done.

And you know, and so mythology and, you know false beliefs seem to circumvent and usurp the good science.

So media, the news, get the facts out, let people know what to expect, acknowledge the fact that people are afraid and acknowledge yes, some people are going to have a reaction, but that's not the norm.

Right?

We have the trials have shown these vaccines to be safe.

- So celebrities, public figures, government officials, people in business, people, sports, et cetera, who happen to be, again, all races, but particularly in the minority community.

How effective do you believe that approach is?

Part of a larger effort obviously.

- There's many things we can do but the role of celebrities is huge in our country.

Elvis Presley was the role model for the polio vaccine in the late 1950s.

- Is that right?

- Yes.

And Elvis did it on national television and he became the role model.

And so Beyonce, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, you name it, football players, basketball.

Lebron James is a great role model, like you know, for many things.

And so I want these folks to go on TV.

I want them to do public service announcements.

What we don't have enough of, of these celebrities, the Kardashians, I don't care who it is.

But get the word out there that they are doing it and make it normal and safe for people.

- I need to ask you about masks and it's embarrassing a year into this.

To ask you about masks, but I need to.

There's video.

And we're actually going to be booking United States Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a great friend of ours who contracted COVID in, she argues that it was, and again, this is going to be dated, but it's still relevant.

She was in a small room with members of Congress when they're hiding on January 6th, with the "insurrection", the riot that took place.

And she, and there was a member of Congress, I believe.

I'm not sure from what state, was asking other members of Congress put a mask on and they refused to, but they happened to be Republicans, and Bonnie Watson Coleman and two other members of Congress said they got COVID after that.

Members of Congress were not going to put a mask on?

It's our right, still?

- It'’s criminal Steve.

A year in?

- Yeah, it's criminal.

You know, I've written about this.

It's like in the United States, some 40 years into it we had still have HIV criminalization laws on the books, which is absurd.

But here we are having people, intentionally spreading COVID, intentionally not wearing a mask and they're not held accountable.

This is completely ridiculous.

And it is a bad model for behavior to our citizens.

- Doctor Perry Halkitis, Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health by the way, check him out on NJ Spotlight News on a regular basis.

The team is smart enough to know that he's a go-to person in that regard.

Perry, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, Steve.

- Be safe.

I'm Steve Adubato that's Perry.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We are honored to be joined by two very important leaders in our state.

Father Edwin Leahy is the headmaster of St. Benedict's Preparatory School in beautiful Brick City, Newark, New Jersey, and also Reverend Phillip Gilmore of St. John's Community Baptist Church, also in Newark.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us.

- [Edwin And Phillip] Thank you, Steve.

- We're taping on the 13th of January, it'll be seen later.

Reverend Gilmore, let me ask you, the City of Newark, residents in the city, disproportionately affected by COVID, obviously for a variety of reasons.

What message do you wanna send folks right now about the vaccine and how safe it is and whether they should be getting it.

- Thank you for having me, Steve, - It'’s an honor.

I just got off a webinar with Newark Beth Israel Hospital, which you know that I am intimately connected with and have a great affection for, and the work that they do.

And I understand that there are many people who are fearful because of a variety of reasons.

Because of history, because they used the wrong phrase.

They used Warp Speed.

Nobody wants a vaccine that's on warp speed.

So my message is really the premise that we need to start out with is that we have no knowledge that God has not allowed us to have.

That's the first thing, right?

Human beings cannot do anything knowledge-wise that God has not given us the knowledge to do.

So we do have that assurance that what we do have and the knowledge and the technology that they've been using to develop this vaccine is something that has really been granted to us by God.

If we start with that premise, then we can move forward towards being educated as to what does the types of technology they have used, the RNA, how that has been affected and what that means.

And that, look, there's been enough studies done that they know that the vaccine is not harmful to the vast majority of people.

We still have to consult with our physicians.

- Right.

- But this is something that we should all be on board with.

And as African Americans, understanding the history of, in a sense being guinea pigs, we're not guinea pigs.

Especially not this time.

- That's right.

- Because everybody's taking the vaccine.

- Again, we are taping the 13th of January.

So many things will be changing, but Father Edwin Leahy, your school in the heart of Newark.

The student population largely black and Hispanic.

What message do you send, not only to your students, but to their families?

And what would you add to Reverend Gilmore's very eloquent and important statement.

- Get vaccinated.

That's what I would add.

Get vaccinated.

We did two nights of town hall meetings with physicians of ours that have gone to school with us and then some others that we've had contact with.

Every single physician that was on it, on the town hall, said get vaccinated.

The warp speed that rev referred to is distracting.

This research on mRNA has been going on for 25 years.

The pandemic has given us the opportunity to actually try it out, so to speak.

That the, and this is not an injection of the virus like they do with flu shots.

This is completely different.

It sends a message to your RNA in your cells that gives you the antibodies to fight the virus.

Absolutely get vaccinated.

I was.

I got the first shot on the third.

I'm getting the next one on February 3rd.

- So it's interesting, again, things are changing very quickly, but I've been asking people this question about public awareness.

In this campaign we're doing around, I shouldn't call it a campaign.

It's an awareness initiative that tries to answer people's questions.

But reverend, let me ask you as concisely as possible.

Father Edwin said that he took the vaccine.

How important do you believe is it for leaders in the African American and Hispanic community, particularly, who get the vaccine, to do it in a public way and send a statement?

- I think it's of immense importance.

People are looking towards us.

I'm getting questions all the time as to whether or not I'll get the vaccine when it comes up.

I let people know that I absolutely will.

I have a son who has a severe peanut allergy.

And so we're trying to do more research as to whether or not it's safe for him.

But we're gonna do everything we can possibly do because we know that the effects of getting the virus far outweighs any side effects of the vaccine.

And this is what we have to get the people to understand.

- Father, all right, let me ask you, should educators, and let me disclose that my son, Steven, actually teaches, is going into I believe his fourth year, he's in his fourth year of teaching at St. Benedict's Prep, should educators, in your opinion, and I know there's public schools and then there were schools like yours, either way, both, whatever, should they be compelled to take the vaccine in your opinion, Father Ed?

That's a great question, Steve.

We're actually wrestling with that right now.

That should our adults be vaccinated to protect themselves and to protect others in order to be able to work here.

I think everybody should get it.

And I can say this to the folks watching, that from the registration, from the time I registered to the time I had a date to go, couldn't have taken more than a half hour on the computer.

I went to get the vaccine.

That whole experience at Essex County College gym, and I've spoken to other people in the county, here in Essex, who have done it in other sites at Essex County, that whole experience took me about a half an hour, 15 minutes of which was sitting in a chair waiting to see if I had any allergic reaction.

So it was smooth.

The people were great, and it took virtually no time.

- And by the way let's clarify that there's a statewide website.

Father Ed talked about Essex County.

We're gonna have Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo will be part of this public awareness program we're doing.

The CDC website will be up right now followed by the state website.

COVID19.NJ.gov/Vaccine.

We have about a minute or so left.

Switch gears.

Again, we date ourselves.

13th of January taping.

Nothing to do with the vaccine but I have to ask two very important leaders this question because we've been doing an ongoing series that the reverend's been a part of called Confronting Racism.

Reverend, January 6, 2021, the insurrection that took place in the Capitol.

Again, we don't know what's gonna happen after that.

How much of that do you believe had to do with race?

- I think, that the fact that the perpetrators, or the more aggressive ones, were more than likely white supremacists, and the President has been tapping into them base since day one.

- The President, as we do this program, not after the 20th of January.

In fact, there's an impeachment vote going on as we speak today.

I'm sorry, Reverend, please.

- Nope, absolutely.

President Trump has been tapping into that base from day one.

I have no doubts that this is an effect from, it has a connection to racism.

And, and let me just say this as well, is that as as I've been pondering this, and what our response can be as African Americans, I think we have a wonderful opportunity to throw our arms around someone who is feeling as if the system has failed them.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, right?

The people who are rioting, in a real sense, believes, falsely because of lies, but they believe that the system has failed them.

And so they're frustrated.

And so this is our opportunity to say we understand your pain.

And maybe we can find common ground to move forward to make the changes to the things that we all believe some changes need to be made to.

So I think it's an opportunity for us really.

- Well said, Reverend.

30 seconds left.

Father, you are our family spiritual advisor.

You always try to find the silver lining and then not a fake one.

Where is the silver lining here?

And where's the opportunity for us to make sense of moving forward with regarding racism and race in this country?

- A quick story.

I learned this in Israel.

Two Jewish men speaking to each other.

One says to the other, "Irv, do you love me?"

And Irv says back, "Yes, you know I love you, Moshe.

He said, "Well, do you know my suffering?"

And Irv answered, "No, I don't know your suffering."

"So then how can you say you love me?"

Until we're able in this country to understand each other's sufferings, we're gonna be flopping around like a fish on a dock, like we are right now.

Understanding the suffering of the other, understanding the reality of the other, and admitting, and admitting how we've added to the sufferings of the other.

Right?

I think that's important as well.

- We needed that Father Ed.

We needed that, Reverend Gilmore.

You honor us by joining us and we thank you so much.

Wish both of you and the communities you represent to be well in 2021 and be safe.

All the best, gentlemen.

Thank you.

- [Edwin And Phillip] Thank you, Steve.

- I'm Steve Adubato.

Thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johnson & Johnson.

The North Ward Center.

NJM Insurance Group.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

And by Fedway Associates, Inc.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ, And by New Jersey Monthly.

(Music playing) NJM Insurance Company has been serving New Jersey policy holders for more than 100 years.

But just who are NJM'’s policy holders?

They'’re the men and women who teach our children.

The public sector employees who maintain our infrastructure.

The workers who craft our manufactured goods.

And New Jersey'’s next generation of leaders.

The people who make our state a great place to call home.

NJM, we'’ve got New Jersey covered.