Courtney Luciana photo
Rev. Keith King at Thursday’s pop-up.
Keith King, pastor of the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church on Newhall Street, thanked the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) on Thursday for providing 54 Covid-19 vaccine doses at a pop-up clinic.
The sign-up list at the one-day clinic for the Pfizer vaccine was made up equally of parishioners of the predominately African American church and local residents.
King said that the idea was to get all members of the church vaccinated, as well as to build trust with those in the community hit the hardest by the pandemic because of already existing health disparities in the minority community.
“I became increasingly concerned about what I was hearing in the African American community from those who were already eligible to receive the shot. When I asked them if they were going to get the shot, many of them were saying they weren’t sure. Many replied that they were going to wait,” King said. “Or they would express distrust because of what has happened to us in the past.”
YNHHS hosted another vaccination pop-up clinic at Bethel AME Church earlier this week. Bethel’s members are also mainly African Americans and had in some cases expressed the same concern that the vaccination may be harmful. The pop-ups are part of broader efforts to address lower vaccination rates in the Black community, which has been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic.
King cited the Tuskegee syphilis experiments as an example of why African Americans fear being used as guinea pigs in medical campaigns.
“Even when a proven treatment was known, they denied them the treatment,” King said. “This went on for 40 years. And yes, the U.S. government was involved. I hope today will help African Americans and people of color overcome distrust by seeing people that they know and trust get the shot.”
Rev. King, Walter Luckett, and Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng discuss the benefits of additional accessibility in Hamden.
Walter Luckett, 67, said he wasn’t skeptical about getting vaccinated, especially because the information given by King made the decision to get his shot easy. He has attended Christian Tabernacle for 30 years.
“I think the more education that our people get in communities, then the better things will be,” Luckett said. “This church is like my home away from home. It’s critical that the direction that you receive is from people that are modeling the needs of the community. This is an example of what should be done throughout the entire state.”
Joan Luckett at Thursday’s pop-up.
Luckett said that he was also touched that Rev. King was concerned about his mother, Joan, 84, who received the Covid-19 vaccine with him Thursday morning. Joan said that she was afraid of being vaccinated because of her older age, but finally decided to accompany her son because she wanted to help save lives.
“I realized that it’s the right thing to do. and maybe it’ll help other people to get theirs. I think people are afraid because they’re not used to this,” Joan said. “I decided that I was going to have it done. especially after my other son reminded me that I’ve had other vaccinations done. I thought about it and decided that it would be worthwhile with everything that’s going on now.”
Keith Churchwell.
Yale New Haven Hospital President Keith Churchwell, who received two Moderna vaccinations over the course of two months, attended Thursday’s pop-up to help spread the “Crush Covid” campaign message.
“The vaccines are safe and effective,” Churchwell said. “We have studied these vaccines actually in the New Haven area with the partners in the community facilitated by our Yale Ambassadors program. So we know that our Black and brown partners and patients that this is truly the best pathway to end this pandemic.”
Churchwell said he advises minorities who are worried about receiving their vaccine to know that they aren’t the first person of color to receive the shot. He told the Independent that the YNHHS will soon be offering additional vaccines with the rollout of Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccinations.
“We worked very aggressively in the research trial to ensure that we had enough individuals from the Black and brown communities to show that the vaccine was safe and that we were taking all of these issues into consideration,” Churchwell said. “I think the J&J vaccinations will simplify the number of opportunities to get the vaccination out to the public, because it doesn’t have to be refrigerated and it’s only one” injection rather than two.
Nurses, pharmacists, and medical volunteers performed the vaccinations Thursday. Kathryn Bongoll, a YNHH pharmacy technician, prepared the Covid-19 vaccinations by clearing the air bubbles out of each dose.
“I like being a part of this because I enjoy growing with the community and doing what we need to do for the community,” Bongoll said. She said she looks forward to getting “back to some sort of normalcy.”
Soni Clubb, a retired doctor, administered the vaccine to Kathy, 62, and John, 63, Jennings (pictured).
“The nice thing about the Pfizer vaccine is that the next dose will be in three weeks,” Clubb said.
The Jennings have been attending Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church for the past four years.
“If this spot wasn’t available, we would have gone somewhere else,” John said. “The fact that it’s our church and that it’s close did make a difference.”
The Jennings.
The religious organizations having vaccination clinics will create ambassadors in the community who are living proof that the vaccine won't harm their parishioners and it will save lives. Spread the word about what to expect and what the experience is like, and the community will respond.
The medical community would help right historical imbalances and injustices by being open, honest and collaborative with the communities of color who don't always get the medical care and access they need.