The Bridgeport NAACP joined forces with Bridgeport Hospital at a virtual town hall meeting Thursday to help ease concerns about the vaccine among the Black community.

The Rev. Stanley Lord, president of the Bridgeport NAACP, attended the town hall, titled Facts vs. Fiction, to make sure that his community is educated when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Lord says health disparities among the brown and Black communities are not new, adding that the virus just helped bring it to light.

"If you could take one thing, one thing that maybe would eliminate so that you can hug or kiss your family, I'd do it," says Lord. "Please, please get educated. Do what's best for you and your family."

Questions were answered about the expediency of the vaccine being developed and the safety of the clinical trials.

Health professionals say they believe in the safety of the vaccine and that everyone should be comfortable getting it.

"Process wasn't rushed in any way," says Tesheia Johnson, director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigations. "People were working around the clock to solve for this pandemic."

Johnson says she does understand why the minority communities have such skepticism.

"We've had the mistrust in history for so long that shadows the consideration for participation," says Johnson.

Lord says people should do their research before deciding what's best for them.