Race to Vaccinate Town Hall: COVID-19 vaccine questions answered here!

Friday, January 29, 2021

Race to Vaccinate Town Hall | The experts answer your questions

Joe Torres was joined by a group of experts to answer all your questions on the COVID-19 vaccine.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Eyewitness News hosted a Town Hall on Wednesday to get answers on your questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Town Hall was part of an Eyewitness News special that aired at 5:30 p.m.

'Race to Vaccinate' featured stories on the rollout of the vaccine and what went wrong, what's working and where we are going.

ALSO WATCH | Race to Vaccinate Eyewitness News special

'Race to Vaccinate' features stories on the rollout of the vaccine and what went wrong, what's working and where we are going.

Here is a list of the special guests who took part in the town hall:

5 p.m.

Dr. Purvi Parikh - MD

Dr. Parikh specializes in Infectious Disease Allergy and Immunology, and Pediatric Allergy & Immunology. She's the Co-founder of the Parikh Institute of Research, where she's a principal investigator who conducts clinical trials for adult and pediatric patients who suffer from allergies, asthma or immunology problems.

Ugo A. Ezenkwele - MD, MPH, FACEP

Chief of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Queens and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion at Icahn Mount Sinai.

Jennifer Jones Austin

CEO and Executive Director of FPWA. Austin is a member of the Black Leaders Task Force. She does a weekly national radio show with Rev. Sharpton for the National Action Network.

5:30 p.m.

Dr. Richard Besser - MD

Besser is president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a position he assumed in April 2017. Besser is the former acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and ABC News' former chief health and medical editor.

6 p.m.

Dr. Shereef Elnahal - MD, MBA

Elnahal is President and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey's largest safety net hospital with over 500 licensed beds and $738.2 million in patient service revenue. The hospital serves as the main academic medical center for Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, both in Newark.

Dr. Bindu Balani

Dr. Bindu Balani is a practicing infectious disease specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center. She also serves as an associate professor of medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. She was a principal investigator for the Moderna Vaccine clinical trial.

Tochi Iroku-Malize - MD, MPH, MBA

Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, has oversight of the Northwell's Department of Family Medicine, which supports Northwell's hospitals with family medicine departments dedicated to providing comprehensive health care for individuals in the context of the family, as well as the Zucker School of Medicine.