12:47 PM PST 1/26/2021
by
Ryan Parker
“I didn’t really feel like I could trust it. But once I got all of the information, found out the researchers, I was very, very happy,” the media mogul says.
Tyler Perry has received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination, and he decided to use the experience, via a BET special, to help inform those who remain skeptical about taking a jab.
In a CBS This Morning interview on Tuesday, the media mogul said he was asked by health officials to take the shots in order to encourage others who are weary. He said he agreed as long as he could ask medical experts questions for a TV special documenting the moment.
“If you look at our history in this country, the Tuskegee experiment, Henrietta Lacks, it raises flags for us as African American people. So I understand why there’s a healthy skepticism about the vaccine,” Perry told Gayle King.
She noted, “I know you’re certainly younger than 65, but they thought if Tyler Perry gets it, it’ll send a strong message.” He agreed.
Perry explained he had questions about the developmental technology of the vaccine and said, “I didn’t really feel like I could trust it. But once I got all of the information, found out the researchers, I was very, very happy.”
Perry said he took the Pfizer vaccine. “I took my first one Jan. 4, and I took the second one yesterday,” he said Tuesday. “I had no reaction to the first shot. This shot that I just took yesterday, I woke up with some aches and pains. But I took some Advil about an hour ago and I feel fine now.”
His BET special will air Thursday night, with Perry saying it is important because “I have a crew that works for me and they’re largely African American people who were all skeptical about the vaccine. When they sat in the room, as they worked on the cameras, and doing hair and makeup and all that stuff, they listened to all the information and by the time we got to the end of it, they all wanted to take it. So I think again, it all goes back to getting the correct information and getting it from people that you trust and you understand. I think this last administration did a lot of damage in eroding trust, when it comes to this vaccine. But the information that I’ve found has been very helpful.”
Watch the full interview below.
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