It Takes Philly

CNN Heroes 2021 campaign

Since the start of the pandemic, people of color have been devastated by Covid-19 -- dying at a much greater rate than white Americans. When Dr. Ala Stanford heard that Black Americans in her hometown of Philadelphia were being severely – and disproportionately – impacted by the virus, she rented a van, filled it with PPE and headed to the hardest hit areas to offer free testing. In 2021, she built on the trust she’d established and began a massive vaccination campaign. To date, her group, the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium, has tested and vaccinated more than 75,000 people in Philadelphia’s at-risk minority neighborhoods.

The Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium is an initiative of It Takes Philly, Inc.

Read Dr. Stanford's story on CNN 
CNN Hero Video: Dr. Ala Stanford