Dr. Eneida Roldan tapped for national COVID-19 awareness media campaign

Dr. Eneida Roldan, CEO of the FIU HealthCare Network, is one of 8 experts tapped by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for a national campaign to increase vaccination rates in communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Roldan, an associate dean and professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, is one of two Spanish-speaking experts focused on reaching the Hispanic/Latino community nationwide. 

"There is still a lot of vaccine apprehension due to lack of information," said Dr. Roldan. "It is important that we educate the public on this topic so they can make an informed decision on whether to get vaccinated.”

Roldan has played a key role in the FIU and South Florida COVID-19 response. She is the clinical director for the FIU COVID-19 vaccination site and the Miami-Dade County COVID-19 testing site staffed by FIU. She also chairs the University Health Care Taskforce.

The VaccineWise initiative is a collaboration between the AAMC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to dispel myths about the COVID-19 vaccines and encourage vaccinations by making “trusted experts” from the AAMC and member institutions available to the media.

"Many of the questions I get concern variants of the virus and whether the current vaccines protect against them," said Roldan. According to the CDC, "current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most variants currently spreading in the United States. However, some variants might cause illness in some people even after they are fully vaccinated."

Roldan has already appeared on Univision, the Florida News Network, and Radio Caracol. The campaign is expected to continue through the summer.

Interviews with Dr. Roldan can be requested at https://vaccinewise.org/spanish/.