# Pray.com presents ‘Protect America,’ an Event to Promote the Physical Wellbeing of our Nation 

LOS ANGELES, Calif., September 2, 2021 – In the wake of an upsurge in COVID-19 fatalities across the United States, Pray.com will host Protect America — a faith-based conversation…

Source: Pray.com — https://www.pray.com/articles/drcollins  
Author: PRAY.COM Editorial Team  
Category: Healing & Well-Being  
Topics: protection  
Published: 2025-03-28  
Last revised: 2026-08-12

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**LOS ANGELES, Calif., September 2, 2021** **–** In the wake of an upsurge in COVID-19 fatalities across the United States, Pray.com will host *Protect America — *a faith-based conversation to promote life-saving vaccines with Pastor Donnie McClurkin and Director of National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. The national online and radio event broadcast will be available starting Thursday, September 2 at 12 p.m. PDT / 3 p.m. EDT on Pray.com.**
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The discussion between Dr. Collins and Pastor McClurkin will focus on ways Americans can protect their health, provide facts about COVID-19, and deliver a faith-based perspective on vaccine uptake. 

The goal of the event is to increase awareness of the recent FDA approval and increase understanding of the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, especially in communities that have shown a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy.**
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> “As we continue the fight to end this pandemic I am encouraged to see efforts like the ‘Protect America’ event come together and I applaud Pray.com and faith leaders for sharing their platforms to encourage vaccination,” said Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States. “Vaccines are the best tool we have to protect our loved ones from COVID-19 and save lives.”
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Pastor McClurkin will deliver a vital message about the life-saving measures available to protect oneself, one’s loved ones, and one’s community from COVID-19.

> “We praise God for this opportunity to be able to share vital information that people need in this very precarious time,”Pastor McClurkin said “I want to help our churches see that science is a wonderful gift given to us by God, and it’s not that we are trusting government, but that we are trusting something that God has given us.”

Pray.com Co-founder Mike Lynn shared his appreciation for the participants to be able to come together for this discussion and for Pray.com to be able to host it.

> “Pray.com is here to create a world where everyone leaves a legacy of helping others,” he said. “We’re committed to providing a platform for faith-based discussions around topics such as this that can help protect and improve people’s lives.”

Pray.com is the world’s No. 1 app for daily prayer and Bible-based audio content, reaching more than 10 million people worldwide through its mobile app and website.

## Pray.com presents Protect America

## About the speakers

## **About Pray.com**

Pray.com was launched in 2017 with a mission to grow faith and cultivate community. Pray.com is the No. 1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content and is the easiest way to incorporate prayer into your daily life. Pray.com provides encouragement and inspiration through Daily Prayers, Pastor Podcasts and Bedtime Bible Stories.

## **About Dr. Francis Collins**

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the only Presidentially appointed NIH Director to serve more than one administration. In this role, Dr. Collins oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world. Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins is an elected member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009. In 2020, he was elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (UK) and was also named the 50th winner of the Templeton Prize, which celebrates scientific and spiritual curiosity.

## **About Pastor Donnie McClurkin**

Donnie McClurkin is an American Gospel singer and minister. He has won three Grammy Awards, ten Stellar Awards, two BET Awards, two Soul Train Awards, one Dove Award and one NAACP Image Award. He is one of the top selling Gospel artists, selling over 10 million albums worldwide.

## Event transcript

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: God bless everyone. This is Pastor Donnie *

*McClurkin and it is my privilege and pleasure to be able to come on this *

*wonderful wonderful meeting. This America Zoom Fireside Chat with Dr. *

*Francis Collins. And I welcome everyone of you to this informative *

*meeting. It is surely going to give you insight that you need as we *

*continue on. This is founded and hosted really by Pray.com And we praise *

*God for the opportunity to be able to share with you information. That's *

*vital information that you will need in this very very precarious time. *

*So I'm going to open up with a moment of prayer and I want you all to *

*joining with me at this moment. So father we praise you. We give you *

*glory because you are God. There's no other God beside you. You are the *

*only wise God our savior to whom we bow on me and we give our lives. I *

*pray that you'd give us wisdom and insight during this chaotic time. I *

*pray that you would give us the help and the hope that we need as we *

*confer today as we sit down and confer I pray that your wisdom would *

*exude and and we are taker of this knowledge that can keep us and sustain*

*our lives. Thank you for Pray.com. Thank you for Dr. Collins and I asked *

*Lord God that the listeners would be inspired by this. You are wonderful *

*and we love you and to you alone we give all glory with that we ask this *

*in your holy name. Amen. Yeah. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Amen. Okay. Wow. Well pastor, thank you so much for *

*joining with me for this conversation and for all the things you've been *

*doing to try to spread valuable and accurate information to people who *

*are struggling with what to do with COVID-19 I guess we all hope that by *

*now we'd be all done with this, but we certainly are not. Here we are in *

*the 4th surge With 150,000 people getting in the hospital every day and *

*we've once again seen the death rates start to go up again. More than *

*1000 people losing their lives. And almost all of those are unvaccinated *

*people and those lives could have been saved if we'd somehow convinced *

*people to receive this gift from God, which is how I see it. I'm a *

*believer like you, I'm a follower of Jesus, somebody who prayed earnestly*

*that we would find some solution for this terrible pandemic when it first*

*appeared in the world a year and a half ago and those prayers have been *

*answered by the way, science has been able to come up with solutions, *

*particularly the vaccines and yet somehow pastor, a lot of people are *

*still unsure about that and are waiting for something to see whether *

*there is a way for them to decide to sign up And I'm hoping this little *

*conversation that you and I are going to have might encourage some of *

*those people who have been on the fence to recognize that this is a *

*golden opportunity to take advantage of a real blessing in which in this *

*case comes in the form of a vaccine. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Well, there's a lot of controversy that goes *

*behind this and I think this information will bring some resolve to a lot*

*of questions that people have and and can I start off by asking questions*

*now? *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Please do. And I'm glad to do the best I can to *

*answer them and pastor you and other members of the clergy or in a really*

*important place right now to get that information and share that with *

*your churches because you know, look at me, I'm a federal employee. I'm *

*some white guy from the Washington D. C. Do I have credibility with the *

*people in your church? I don't know, but you do. So let me help you if *

*there are things that I can provide as far as evidence and facts. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Well, well, what's going on with this, the full *

*FDA approval with this vaccine? What's going on? There's a lot of *

*different statements being hurled around what is going on with this FDA *

*approval. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: So FDA has now granted full and complete approval to*

*the Pfizer vaccine. That was just a couple weeks ago. FDA is the gold *

*standard in the world for that kind of rigorous assessment about safety *

*and efficacy. So if they've said full approval, they mean it. And that *

*means that all other considerations that you'd want to have looked at as *

*far as does it work. And is it safe have been judged and it is a slam *

*dunk that this is a vaccine that has met that standard. The Moderna *

*vaccine and the J and J vaccine are also being evaluated right now by *

*FDA. There is every expectation they will also get full approval in the *

*fairly near future. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: There's been so many different uh posts put out *

*that it's not approved, that it's only for emergencies. They've extended *

*the emergency usage of it. I'm a little confused and I don't really know *

*how to break this down to our congregation. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Mm Well, it was of course initially emergency use *

*authorization back in December of last year because we wanted to get *

*these vaccines to people as quickly as possible to try to deal with the *

*terrible hospitalizations and deaths that were happening. But everybody *

*recognized that was based upon already a very rigorous data set. All of *

*those emergency use is dependent upon trials of at least 30,000 people. *

*But some people were still a little on the fence about. Have we waited *

*long enough to see if there might any might be long term effects. Well, *

*some of those people in those trials have now been out there for more *

*than a year and they're doing fine. There have been no surprise late *

*effects and I don't think they're going to be. So this full approval, *

*What's called a BLA by the FDA ought to be seen as a marker that if *

*you're hesitant because of uneasiness about that emergency use, you need *

*not be hesitant any further. This has gotten the good housekeeping seal *

*of approval from the FDA. The gold standard saying this is something you *

*can trust. So if people are holding back on that basis, I hope they'll *

*look at this and say, ok, it's done. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: All right. So, but what what does that really *

*mean? What does it matter? And what what are the implications behind? *

*Dr. Francis Collins: I think it is the case then because FDA has approved*

*this. This now becomes a standard medical intervention like a pill that *

*you might be taking for your diabetes or your blood pressure. That's gone*

*through that same rigorous evaluation and you get from the drugstore. *

*This vaccine now has that same sense of confidence attached to it, that *

*it works and it's safe. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Yeah. Um, and I'm probably going to get in *

*trouble for these questions. But there are so many people that are saying*

*that there's a difference between BioNTech and Pfizer and that Pfizer *

*hasn't really gotten the approval but BioNTech does. I know I'm being *

*redundant but is there a difference. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: No, they basically Pfizer and BioNTech. We're *

*partners in developing this vaccine, BioNTech happens to be European *

*organization in Germany fighters. An American one they got together to *

*make sure they had the science that they needed to make it work. So this *

*vaccine is basically the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is just one *

*organization. One vaccine. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Thank you so much because that's been the *

*prevailing question. But now for the people in my community, for those, *

*um, what is the most common misperception that's going on about this *

*vaccine? *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Well, I wish I could say there's just one that's *

*most common. There's a list. One that I've certainly heard a lot is that *

*this vaccine may actually create infertility and that of course would be *

*a big deal if getting vaccinated for either men or women. What's going to*

*have some impact on their future ability to have Children. Pastor there *

*is a zero, I mean zero evidence to support that. And there's a lot of *

*evidence against that. And so people are hearing that. I hope they will *

*look at the actual information and there's a site that can go and look at*

*called getvaccineanswers.org that will sort of lay out what we know and *

*it will make it pretty clear. That is not one that despite its prominence*

*in social media, which is very good at spreading misinformation, there's *

*nothing there to back that up. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: What is that website again? *

*Dr. Francis Collins: getvaccineanswers.org. So get vaccines answers all *

*one word, no spaces or anything .org. It's one of several sites that I *

*think has been very well designed and it's not put forward by people have*

*an axe to grind. They're just trying to get the information out there. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: I posted on, on, on the internet and facebook. *

*My second vaccination from Pfizer and it drew much, much fire. It drew *

*very, very many, uh, on the, uh, it caused a lot of the people with *

*misinformation to come on in droves. I just, I'm amazed at the level of *

*misinformation that's out there and while deeming this as credible based *

*on no facts at all. I'll say this. Um, God gave us the wonderful Science.*

*Science is God given. It is not something that was contrived as an anti *

*or something against God. It was wisdom given by God. And they said, you *

*know, you're trusting in in the government and not trusting in God. But *

*the truth of the matter is this is something that God has given for us to*

*be able to deal with our maladies on our own body by his grace and the *

*wisdom that he's given. And I'm trying to cause our churches to see this *

*as a God given gift called Science. What what message can I give our *

*churches give That will give a more of a, they will give the people more *

*relief *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Oh Pastor. You said it very well just now and I want*

*to associate myself entirely with what you said as a believer. But *

*somebody who spent my professional life as a scientist. I think science *

*is a gift from God. Science is a way of exploring the creation that we've*

*been given and sometimes using that information to prevent diseases or *

*heal people who have illnesses and that is a blessing. That's an answer *

*to prayer. Science I think is a form of worship. It is a way in which by *

*studying nature, which is God's gift to us. We can even more be in awe of*

*the gifts that we've been given. I think I heard you in a recent piece *

*where you were reflected on the story of the guy who was drowning and *

*three different boats came by and offered to save him and he said no *

*God's going to take care of me and then he drowned anyway and he goes up *

*to heaven and God says when he says to God, hey, why didn't you save me? *

*I was counting on you. God points out that he tried really hard. So *

*prayers can be answered by people. Prayers can be answered by scientists *

*who are people and produce things like vaccines that can save lives. I *

*see that is completely compatible with having my trust in God And also *

*believing that science is the way sometimes that my prayers can be *

*answered. And I hope people in your church see that. But it sounds like *

*you've been hearing a lot of pushback *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Much I've been hearing. So I'm not hearing, I've*

*been assaulted on so many levels behind the uh, the video of my *

*vaccination and um, they've considered it a betrayal of the cross. It *

*considered it becoming a part of the anti Christ and there and let yeah. *

*And that this is the Mark of the Beast. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Oh, I've heard that too. But you know, I went read *

*Revelation 17 again just to be sure that I had a better sense of what *

*that vision of John was all about. It does not sound like this vaccine in*

*any sense of the word. So people who are throwing that away. Come on. You*

*know, pastor. I think also those people who are spreading information *

*about the vaccines that are demonstrably not true. Really need to stop *

*and think a minute we've lost, you know, 630,000 people have died. *

*Probably at least 100,000 of them didn't need to if they've been able to *

*take vaccines when they were offered. Many of those are people in the *

*church. If somebody's out there continuing to spread that false news, *

*they're contributing to people losing their lives and this is really *

*serious isn't just sort of an idol academic conversation. So I'm glad *

*you're willing to be out there. By the way. Something that helps people *

*also As when they hear that 96% of physicians are vaccinated, including *

*black doctors. So that tells you something, doesn't it? If this was not a*

*good thing for all of us with the doctors decide to take advantage of it *

*in such overwhelming numbers. They got access to a lot of information and*

*they're clearly making a decision accordingly. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: But we've had, we've used our church as *

*vaccination center, *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Good for you. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: Last of five weeks and then we have an outdoor *

*service every Sunday out in the open market marketplace and we brought *

*the vaccination center down there as well. And I believe that everyone *

*has the responsibility of making the right choice according to their *

*convictions. But for those that really would pay attention to what's *

*taking place and the and the drastic devastation of this virus and the *

*ability to freely have access to a vaccine. I want to make it available *

*to them. And I pray that the churches around this community would do the *

*same because our job is saving lives. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Yes *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: I would say not just souls, but lives and we've *

*got to care for the people in the community. I just thank you for taking *

*this time for allowing us to dispel some of the misinformation and to *

*give some correct information that can help people live. I'm going to *

*continue to do this. And uh, they were telling me that I had *

*nanotechnology in me now and not only that I was a kid, um, I want to *

*move abroad cosmic power and I'm used to, you know, but all joking aside,*

*this is very serious moment, This very serious situation. And if the *

*faith based communities can lend themselves to the accuracy of the *

*message, tear down all of the myth, mythological, uh, misinformation *

*that's going on. *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Yeah, there's there's one more message. I think also*

*that faith communities resonate with if they start to think about it and *

*that is that the choice to be vaccinated is not just about yourself. It's*

*also about other people around you. I particularly worry pastor about *

*people with cancer who are on various drugs that suppress their immune *

*system. The vaccine doesn't work for them. They can get the shots, but it*

*won't actually generate a result because their immune systems kind of *

*been put down by the treatment or somebody with a kidney transplant or a *

*liver transplant, a heart transplant. You probably have people like that *

*in your church. They can't get a good immune response either because the *

*drugs they have to take to prevent rejection mean that the vaccine *

*doesn't work. So it's up to all of us to recognize they're vulnerable, *

*not to mention all the kids under 12 who can't get vaccinated yet either.*

*So this is a moment to love your neighbor. It's not just about yourself. *

*Even if you're not really sure you need this. Although I think you should*

*be think about how this is affecting your family, your friends, people *

*around you who maybe you don't have the choice to get immunized. You can *

*help them to Christians have always rallied to that kind of argument. I *

*hope they'll rally again right now. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: And I think through through modes of information*

*like this. I believe this will have a lot of people with some of the *

*decision making because they've gotten answers two questions and that's *

*important. Information is key and I thank you so much for availing *

*yourself to do this and to make it something comprehensive to everyone *

*that used *

*Dr. Francis Collins: Really glad to do so pastor, thank you very much for*

*being out there talking about this. I know a lot of people in the church *

*are a little uneasy about even bringing it up. But this is a life or *

*death situation. We've got to face it. We've got to face it square on *

*figure out the right thing is to do is and then make everybody here that *

*information you're doing that. Thank you so much. *

*Pastor Donnie McClurkin: I appreciate that too. And to every one of you *

*that are watching, I pray that you heard something that will give you a *

*greater understanding that in this time of pandemic there is cure, there *

*is help, there is a vaccine and it's up to you to come to the realization*

*of how important it is for you and your family and your community and *

*people at large. So I'm glad to be able to bring this to you. God bless *

*you. *