Hillsborough, North Carolina native Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett has drawn national attention- and even a shout-out from Dr. Anthony Fauci — for her research that led to one of two authorized Covid-19 vaccines.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, NIH researcher who's played a key role in developing a Covid-19 vaccine. (NIH)
Now she can even say she’s got a day named after her. During their online meeting on January 12, 2021, the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners honored and recognized the former resident by declaring Jan. 12, 2021, as Dr. Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett Day.
And there’s a good reason for the honor, because Dr. Corbett’s work in developing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is already saving lives.
After the reading of the proclamation, Dr. Corbett thanked the board for the honor and urged everyone to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible.
"It is absolutely amazing to be recognized by my hometown," she said.
Dr. Corbett was born in Hurdle Mills and raised in Hillsborough. She attended A.L. Stanback Middle School and graduated from Orange High School. She earned Bachelor of Science degrees in biological sciences and sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and interned at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at age 19. In 2014, she was conferred a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then joined the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center as a postdoctoral fellow.
Dr. Corbett and her team at NIH partnered with Moderna as part of the federal government's Operation Warp Speed to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 in record time. Her work was recognized by President Donald Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force.
While continuing her research, Dr. Corbett is now encouraging people, especially those in Black and Brown communities, to get vaccinated. Days before the Hillsborough meeting, Dr. Corbett spoke at an event in Chicago during which the Reverend Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition, received his first round of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“I didn’t wake up with this mission. I’ve been in vaccine development since I was 18 years old, as nerdy as it is to say,” said Corbett, reflecting on how she helped lead what has been called one of the greatest scientific feats of the 21st century.
Corbett told the Chicago Sun Times she understands the distrust of vaccines in Black and Brown communities because of the centuries of medical injustice experienced by those communities. She said now is the time to own up to it, apologize for it, and provide an end to it by providing communities with equitable health care and vaccines.
“The only thing that we can do is to become more trustworthy. I am here today to serve as a liaison to what is real behind the vaccine, and to the science of the data. Many times, there has not been anyone like myself who has been able to break down scientific information, out in the community like this,” she added.
“I would say to our community: I understand, and I empathize with their hesitancy and with the distrust and mistrust, based on the history,” she said. “And so I’m here out of empathy, out of care, out of my onus to start to lay some of those bricks. We’re not going to get over that hump of hesitancy with this one incident, but hopefully as time progresses, we can start to rebuild some of that trust.”
Check out the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' video below to hear Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett discuss her work with Covid-19 and the vaccine:
Soundbites of an interview the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases conducted with researcher Kizzmekia Corbett, Ph.D.
Dr. Corbett works in the NIAID's Vaccine Research Center and discusses efforts to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.