“Risk Less. Do More” campaign aims for higher uptake of the flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines for the 2024–2025 season.

COMMITMENTS AND PRIORITIES

The International Myeloma Foundation, in partnership with the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute’s Cobb Scholars Program, has developed a scholars program for African American medical school students to participate in a health disparities project focused in myeloma alongside an expert in multiple myeloma. Applications close January 17, 2025. Click here for more information and to apply. 

The "Risk Less. Do More" campaign, which launched during National Immunization Awareness Month in August 2024, reaches people who are at higher risk for serious illness, including adults ages 65 and older, residents of long-term care facilities (LTCF) and their caregivers, pregnant people, and those living in rural areas where they may have fewer health resources. It will also reach Black and Hispanic people in the United States who are at higher risk of severe illness from flu, COVID-19, and RSV.

The Cobb Institute is one of the partner organizations at the national, state, and local levels who have access to campaign materials developed by HHS in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help amplify and extend the reach of the campaign messages and activities among priority audiences. 

Risk Less. Do More.   Risk Less. Do More.

Risk Less. Do More.  Risk Less. Do More.

The Cobb Institute will be hosting five in-person events across the country in conjunction with Health Departments in Indianapolis, Detroit, Memphis, Birmingham and Houston. These are educational events that provide an opportunity to receive vaccinations, and encourage thoughtful and culturally sensitive discussions about vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. Three additional events are planned for Sarasota, New Orleans, and Little Rock. Trusted voices in these communities and volunteers wishing to support these activities are encouraged to contact the Cobb Institute by emailing [email protected] 

Everyone can learn more about the importance of flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines during the 2024–2025 season during a livestream discussion featuring Dr. LaQuandra S. Nesbitt. As a professor at The George Washington University, she leads the Center for Population Health Sciences and Health Equity. This is a YouTube Livestream event in partnership with The Cobb Institute, BlackDoctor.org and the "Risk Less. Do More" campaign. More campaign information here.

Join us online, Thursday November 14th, at 7pm EST.  More event information here.

CORE PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES

CS Poster Convention

FEATURED PARTNERSHIP

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Announces continuation of Cooperative Agreement with National Medical Association (NMA) and W. Montague Cobb Institute to Increase Vaccination Coverage Across Racial and Ethnic Adult Populations Experiencing Disparities.  

The continuation of the cooperative agreement perpetuates working partnerships established in 2021. 

Adult vaccination coverage remains low nationally for all populations, but there are significant racial and ethnic disparities related explicitly to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and influenza (flu) immunizations. The low uptake of COVID-19 and flu vaccines places African American (Black) and other resource-limited populations at higher risk for COVID-19 infections and the probability of the serious illnesses associated with COVID-19, and the severe medical complications linked to COVID-19/flu "twindemic" infections. 

The primary goal of the National Medical Association (NMA) and W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association (NMA) Health Institute (The Cobb Institute), (NMA/Cobb Institute) cooperative agreement (NMA-CA) is to support efforts to increase adult COVID-19/flu immunization coverage for adults in Black and other racial and ethnic disparate populations.

The NMA/Cobb cooperative agreement also develops methods to address avoidable COVID-19/flu inequities and confront appropriate historical and contemporary health and healthcare disparities and biases. 

The NMA-CA comprises four major components to facilitate physician, nursing, faith-based education, and community-driven COVID-19/flu immunization interventions.

The four fundamental NMA-CA strategies are:
  • Develop customized national, sectional, and state COVID-19/flu data to support the physician CME meetings, nursing CE meetings, and other events associated with public information and messaging campaigns.
  • Provide administrative, clinical, and financial support for NMA internal groups (i.e., sections and regions) and external sub-recipients to host physician and nursing education activities and community outreach events. Also, host informational meetings to identify education and service gaps that hamper COVID-19/flu immunization uptake.
  • Facilitate the production of provider-enduring materials and other community-level information for patient/community campaigns to promote the uptake of flu and COVID-19 immunizations while minimizing vaccination hesitancy.
  • Assist in delineating the evaluation and assessment activities to measure the effectiveness of the programs, events, and/or activities.

 

The National Medical Association and the W. Montague Cobb Institute have been collaborating with CDC to increase vaccination uptake since 2021, following Operation Warp Speed (Accelerated COVID-19 Vaccine Development Status and Efforts to Address Manufacturing Challenges), The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (2020) and the Coronavirus Response and Consolidated Appropriations Act (2021).  Together these measures provided stimulus for rapid research and manufacturing of vaccines, support for healthcare organizations, and fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, small businesses, and industries.

Funding for the NMA-CA were part of the initial federal “Warp Speed” legislation when there was little known about the COVID-19/flu pandemic other than increasing the use of public health preventive measures and increasing “shots in arms” in Black patients and underserved communities. For this reason, physician education is the cornerstone of the NMA-CA.

Cobb Institute Vaccination Clinic

Further Information Click Here