Sharpton gets COVID vaccine to dispel reluctance among New Yorkers

The Rev. Al Sharpton may not be immune to controversy, but his COVID-19 immunity just got a big boost.

Sharpton revealed Thursday during Mayor de Blasio’s virtual press conference that he had just received a dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Harlem Hospital — a precaution he framed as an attempt to set an example for people still reluctant to be vaccinated.

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during a Choose Healthy Life Action Plan press conference Thursday, February 25, 2021 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/)

“I’m putting my shirt back on from being vaccinated,” said Sharpton, who appeared with his necktie undone and shirt untucked. “We’ve demanded and rallied saying we want to have the same access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines as other communities. Now that we are beginning to get that, we have to set an example to go get the vaccine.”

For weeks, de Blasio has talked about how many New Yorkers, and especially Blacks, have been reluctant to get the vaccine because of America’s fraught history of conducting unethical medical experiments and studies on African Americans.

Sharpton tried to dispel comparisons between the COVID vaccination push and a decades-long study conducted in Tuskegee, Ala. in which Black men suffering from syphilis were lied to and deprived of medical treatment.

Harlem Hospital staff nurse Brettt Lastra, RN, administers the Rev. Al Sharpton his Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine after a Choose Healthy Life Action Plan press conference at Harlem Hospital Thursday, February 25, 2021 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/)

“Tuskegee was letting people suffer and not get shots — keeping the penicillin away — this is the opposite,” he said. “I’m here saying I cannot afford not to take the shot.”