When it comes to vaccination rates in Youngstown, the city has the most zip codes with the least amount of people vaccinated.

Four months ago, 21 News asked Mayor Tito Brown what was being done to get more of the minority community vaccinated.

Since then, the Minority Community Vaccination Action Group has worked to remove barriers like transportation and quick appointment registration.

Now they're hoping an informative commercial, with YSU President Jim Tressel, will persuade more people to get vaccinated.


"If I get ten people vaccinated because they watch the commercial, that's enough," said Mayor Brown. "IT'S hard to gage, you know, you may find individuals that say well, the mayor I went to high school with him, or the president, I used to play for him and they're not vaccinated, so there's a give and take to that," he said.


Reverend Lewis Macklin of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Youngstown was looking to do community outreach.

Now 4 months later he's still doing that. A recent vaccination clinic at his church had 18 people registered to attend but double the amount showed up.

In January, Dr. Dee Banks told 21 News the effort to educate should be done at the state level. Now she says Mayor Brown's commercial, might be exactly what's needed.


"We want everybody to be at the same level, cleveland, youngstown, columbus, so, what i think is lacking is coming back," said Dr. Dee Banks, Infectious Disease Specialist with the Northeast Ohio Infectious Disease Associates. "What we need to do is to come back with consistent messaging about why it's important to get vaccinated," she said.


Minority leaders agree that there is still work to be done and they say they'll keep pushing at every opportunity to get more people vaccinated and bump up the city's numbers.