Charlie Bolden

Charlie Bolden (00:04):

Hi, my name is Charlie Bolden, and I'm a veteran of 34 years in the Marine Corps. And during the Obama administration, I served both terms as the NASA administrator. You know, it gave me real pleasure to be able to pull off my mask, as I can do now, most places I go, because I've received my COVID-19 vaccination with my wife, Jackie, about two months ago.

Charlie Bolden (00:29):

Vaccines are really important. I grew up in the segregated South, and when I was growing up, things like chickenpox and measles and smallpox were still of concern to folk, even polio. But we saw with the success of vaccines that we were able to immunize whole communities. As a matter of fact, we've stamped out several diseases that were tyrannies on humanity. COVID-19 has devastated our planet, and it's through the vaccines that we now have available, no matter which brand you take, that we're on the verge of being able to return our nation and the world to some semblance of normalcy.

Charlie Bolden (01:09):

A lot of people are really hesitant or afraid of vaccines. I happen not to be one of those. In fact, I love to travel. I've traveled 52 countries as the NASA administrator, and in almost every country I visited, I had to have some type of inoculation or vaccination, or I couldn't go. And so, from the standpoint of just pleasure and being able to conduct my business, vaccines were a really important part of that.

Charlie Bolden (01:34):

So let me encourage you, particularly those in my community, in the African American community. Don't listen to all of the naysayers and the like. Vaccines do work. Vaccines have worked for me for my entire life, and they've worked for my family. They enable us to get together in ways that some other families still are not able to do because they're not vaccinated. They enable us to go many places and no longer wear our mask anymore.

Charlie Bolden (02:02):

So I appeal to you, get out of the fear. It's okay to be afraid of needles, but don't be afraid of the vaccination and the safety and assurance, and freedom that it brings to you and your family. So I wish all of you Godspeed. Please, please, please get vaccinated. Help us knock out COVID-19.