President Obama Enlists Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley in PSA to Encourage Black People to Get Vaccinated

The former president of the United States has teamed up with two former NBA Hall of Fame basketball players to release a public service announcement to encourage Black people and others in disenfranchised neighborhoods to go ahead and get the COVID-19 vaccination.

Former President Barack Obama has turned to former NBA players and current TNT commentators, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley to help encourage the American people, people of color, and young people, to go out and get the vaccine for the coronavirus that is currently available for all adults in the country.

“I appreciate you guys doing this,” says Obama. “Part of our goal here is to make sure that everybody who’s been going through so much in COVID understands the need and the urgency of our communities getting vaccinated. Michelle and I have; we’ve been lucky.

“Now, as the vaccine becomes more available, I want to make sure that our communities, particularly, African American, Latino, as well as young people understand that this will save lives and allow people to get their lives back to normal,” Obama added. “The sooner we get more people vaccinated the better off we’re going to be.”

Obama speaks about the Tuskegee experiment, which is one of the reasons Black people are skeptical when it comes to receiving the vaccine and he also expresses the need for Black people and specifically, young people to go out and get the COVD-19 vaccine.

Charles and @Shaq agree: we can all help end this pandemic by getting the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s the only way to keep everyone safe and help us get back to all the things we miss most—from seeing family and friends to watching sports in person. pic.twitter.com/y2DlprGPds

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 18, 2021

To date, there have been 31,484,148 reported COVID-19 cases, and 564,292 documented deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).