The second round of vaccinations for COVID-19 happened at AME Zion Church for a group of Syracuse South Side residents. The location, along with the vulnerable populations its reaching in nearby city neighborhoods, is making a difference.
Pastor Daren Jaime says the clinic was able to reach people without having those 65-and-older register online.
“Jumping on the internet knowing how to click, before you know it, the appointments already booked up. And some of them are not even on the internet already. So fortunately, you have these pop-up clinics that are done through grassroots and connection and it reaps a plentiful harvest because now you see people coming out and getting the vaccine in a way they probably wouldn’t.”
For South Side residents Beverly and Earl Cruggs, the pop-up vaccination clinic was convenient because they live close by.
“We know that in the black community a lot of people are hesitant, but people have to do it, you don’t have a choice. It’s a life-or-death situation. Truly it’s great for them to be able to come down here and put it here for the community cause it’s so hard for the community to get back and forth and a lot of them live right in the neighborhood.”
Difficulty reaching the African-American community and some resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine have been revealed in local and national data. But right now, AME Zion Church has a waiting list for a potential second clinic. Pastor Jaime feels it’s not a question of whether members of his community will choose to get the vaccine, it’s a matter of whether vaccine supplies will match the high demand. Nearly 280 residents were vaccinated at the first clinic.
