As some question COVID-19 vaccine, former SF Mayor Willie Brown says he got his doses and feels great

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In the last week there has been a strong push to get coronavirus vaccination shots to those in African American and Latino communities. California even announced it will set aside 40% of their doses for those living in hard hit zip codes.

Sunday at least two East Bay Baptist churches offered COVID-19 vaccines to those who qualify, but some are still very skeptical of getting the shot or shots.

RELATED: Hard hit neighborhoods in SF left out of California's COVID-19 vaccine equity plan

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who is 86-years-old, told ABC7 News Sunday that he received both doses.

"They complained about soreness in the arm, they complained about running out of energy, my vaccination was almost like an injection for speed," says Brown, who tells us he received the Pfizer doses and had no side effects on the first and none on the second.

"I accused them of putting water in my arm and they said, 'No you just happen to be healthy,'" said Brown.

A recent Pew Research Survey found that readiness to get immunized varied by race. African Americans in the survey were least likely to express comfort with the vaccine.

Historians say much of this comes from Tuskegee, Alabama and the Syphilis Study that targeted African American males.

RELATED: Former SF Mayor Willie Brown proposes universal COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan

"We must not become cynical because of what happened at Tuskegee, that was a different time and a different situation," says Reverend Amos Brown, who heads San Francisco's NAACP.

In recent days Baptist churches in African American communities have opened for vaccinations, but as they do some well-known sports figures have still not said if they will get the doses.

Brown believes that is essential in building public trust. The former mayor believes the vaccination rollout has been a disaster but says the key here is to get everyone in all communities a dose, just like what happened in the 1950's with polio.

"Forget this business of age, forget this business of occupation, or any of those things, let's vaccinate everybody and if we do we'll stop this disease," says Brown.

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