Tyler Perry has had the coronavirus vaccine to help combat skepticism around the shot.
The 51-year-old actor and producer admitted he “didn’t really trust” the vaccine because of how quickly it was approved, but doctors agreed to answer his questions and he has now created a special documentary, COVID-19 Vaccine And The Black Community: A Tyler Perry Special, to help allay other people’s fears.
He said: “I was really concerned — because this last administration, and all of the pressure they were putting on the CDC and FDA, I don’t know — 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…
“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.
“But once I got all of the information, found out the researchers, I was very, very happy.”
The half-hour special interviews with Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System, and Dr. Kimberly Dyan Manning, professor of medicine at Grady Health System, and the Madea star has already seen proof they can be persuasive.
He told CBS News’ Gayle King: “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.”
Continue reading on the next page to learn how Perry felt after receiving his first and second doses of the vaccine and to watch his full interview with King.
