D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday that the city is partnering with a Southeast church that will serve as a coronavirus vaccination site as part of a pilot program to increase “faith in the vaccine.”
The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church will set up two clinics this week to inoculate 200 pre-registered residents, the mayor said during a press conference.
The program’s goal is to boost confidence in the vaccine, register seniors, engage congregation members and reach out to residents in Wards 5, 7 and 8, according to Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the D.C. Department of Health.
“For many years, faith-based institutions or churches, places of worship, have had the ability to speak to communities of color, African American communities, Black communities, and to be able to be leaders in those communities in terms of advancing a cause or getting people to understand why their health is important,” Dr. Nesbitt said.
Dr. Nesbitt mentioned other city-church partnerships have “worked effectively” to educate Black people about the risk of HIV, as well as substance use disorder.
“Engaging them or including them on our vaccine confidence effort was a natural fit or a natural progression,” Dr. Nesbitt said.
Asked if the program will expand, Dr. Nesbitt said “if done successfully, if it draws the right community that we’re trying to reach, we may expand.”
Officials said that as of Feb. 6, the District has received 94,100 vaccine doses, of which 67,688 have been administered. An additional 11,475 doses are expected to be delivered this week.
Moreover, 38,136 total virus cases and 956 deaths have been confirmed in the city of more than 700,000 residents.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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