In an ongoing series, medical professionals will discuss current health issues and answer community questions.

 May 26th Town Hall to feature Q&A about the importance of vaccinations.

MEDFORD—Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn and the Medford Health Department announce the launch of a new recurring informational forum, titled ‘Real Talk,” which will kick off on May 26thwith a forum about vaccines. The “Real Talk” series will feature discussions about critical public health initiatives, dispelling misinformation on medical protocols and building vaccine confidence throughout the community. The series kicks off with a webinar on the importance of vaccinations on Wednesday, May 26 at 6 p.m.All community members are invited – and encouraged – to attend. Language interpretations in Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic will be provided during the live Town Hall.

Guest speakers on May 26th include Dr. Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha, Division Chief, Infectious Diseases at Cambridge Health Alliance and Dr. Steven Sbarella, Chief Medical Officer at MelroseWakefield Healthcare. Speakers will give their expertise on current vaccination trends, why getting vaccinated is critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and answer questions from the public. The forum will be moderated by Medford Health Department Public Health Nurse Sara Harris, MSN RN.

“Making sure everyone in Medford gets accurate information from trusted medical sources is so important to building vaccine confidence and setting us on the path to ending the pandemic. Most importantly, making sure we all rely on accurate and scientific information about health issues is essential in protecting public health,” Mayor Lungo-Koehn said. “Our upcoming webinar series will be a great way for our residents to stay informed, learn more about vaccines and public health issues, and have any of your questions answered by a panel of experts. I hope you will join us for one or all of the discussions.”

“Now with everyone over 12 eligible for the vaccine, and the expanded availability of the vaccine, it appears most adults who wanted the shot have received it. We now are focusing our outreach efforts to target populations that are vaccine hesitant,” Director of the Medford Board of Health MaryAnn O’Connor said. “These public health forums will play a crucial role in addressing concerns and restoring confidence in the vaccines and help get the shot into as many arms as possible.”

To register for the series, visit
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kvGWeGmNQ-mPCKrknGB6Rw for more information on the city’s response to the pandemic, statistics on COVID cases and vaccinations, as well as the most up to date guidance, visit medfordma.org/coronavirus-information. To register for the COVID-19 vaccine visit https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/.

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