BREAKING DOWN VACCINE BARRIERS
In plan to address inoculation inequity, Fresh Start Church hosts first community clinic
When the pandemic hit, Michele Peters knew she had to do something.
The oncology nurse at Baltimore Washington Medical Center saw the disparate impact COVID-19 was having on Black people living and working in Anne Arundel County.
Even still, she heard from her friends, colleagues and fellow congregants’ concerns about the coronavirus vaccine, from wild rumors it would implant a tracking chip inside everyone — it won’t — to legitimate questions about efficacy to insurmountable barriers to access.
She had one thought: Fight back. “We’re not going to allow that,” she said.
“We’re not going to allow that to happen. We are too strong of a community to let COVID affect us.”
She reached out to her friend and colleague Jerome Howard, a nuclear medicine technologist at BWMC and pastor at Hope for the Living Ministries in Severna
Park, about doing something to help debunk the myths and overcome the barriers to vaccine access. They worked together to contact other churches, looping in Apostle Craig Coates, a pastor of his church Fresh Start and a prominent community organizer. He shared a survey that was passed among church groups to find needs.
The result of their efforts was Anne Arundel County’s first community clinic, hosted Thursday at Fresh Start Church in Glen Burnie, where Coates serves as head pastor.
Since the pandemic began, Black people in Anne Arundel County have borne the brunt. Nationwide, a third of Black Americans know someone who caught a serious case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and either spent time in the hospital or died. The clinic at Fresh Start Church, and others planned in future weeks, are part of county efforts to mitigate the disparity and drive vaccine access into communities that need it most.
The nationwide trend is true in Anne Arundel County, where Black residents spent the last year burying friends and loved ones. More likely to have public-facing jobs as essential workers and less access to quality health care and resources like transportation and Internet-access, Black county residents accounted for 21% of cases and 24% of deaths despite comprising only 17% of the population.
“We are seeing the aftermath of this, every single week, we’re burying people, we’re seeing whole families just ripped apart by sudden death or families being hospitalized,” Coates said, sitting with Peters and Howard among rows of empty chairs in the church sanctuary.
On the other side of a blue cinderblock wall, nurses wrapped up the clinic, where 100 mostly Black congregants received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
We’re not going to allow that We’re not going to allow that to happen. We are too strong of a community to let COVID affect us.Michele Peters, oncology nurse at Baltimore Washington Medical Center
Other populations have struggled to get vaccinated as well: Hispanic county residents accounted for 12% of COVID-19 infections despite making up just 8% of the population, but have received 3.9% of vaccinations. Older residents, especially those over 70, have made up nearly 90% of the deaths in the county but only 12% of all cases. Those over 60 have received about 51% of vaccines distributed thus far.
Thursday, staff from Anne Arundel Medical Center administered the vaccines, which came from the county Health Department supply.
The county published a health equity plan one day prior, outlining current and future initiatives to bridge gaps in vaccine information and access. Beyond the community clinics, the county plans to expand the hours that vaccine clinics are open to ensure people working during the day can sign up after their shift. The county has also begun mobile vaccine clinics for people living in group settings.
Peters, Coates and Howard have identified churches that have volunteered vehicles and congregants to help people get to their appointments. Through the surveys, they’ve identified volunteers and partners who can help with vaccine distribution and administration. They’ve organized weekly town hall meetings, open to anyone, with panel discussions on stopping the spread of COVID-19 featuring Black doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.
The program, through a partnership with the county, is designed to be self-sustaining.
Coates created a standardized survey to gauge needs across different faith communities, not only age but health conditions and living situation, in case someone at home is more vulnerable. Twenty-four churches now included in the network.
The county plans to host the clinics weekly at different churches and faith communities across the county.
“That really, at some point, what we would only need at worst case, is vaccine production, you know, because if this grows so big and we get vaccines, then we’re still looking at staffing and things of that sort,” Coates said. “And I’m a firm believer grants can help a lot, but volunteers that know the cause is where we always start.”