Churches to host vaccination clinics across DC region to help boost confidence
Faith communities needed for vaccination confidence
There are calls for the faith-based community to help in spreading the word on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - There are calls for the faith-based community to help in spreading the word on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Monday, D.C. leaders announced they ll be launching a pilot program wherein churches will host vaccine clinics as a way to offer more access to minority communities and areas hardest hit by the virus.
The city will host the first clinics for pre-registered residents 65 and older in Wards 5,7 and 8 at Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church.
From Dr. Jacqueline Delmont, Chief Medical Officer at Somos, gives Helen Washington, 76, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site at St. Luke s Episcopal Church in the Bronx. Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
toggle caption Mary Altaffer/AP Photo
The center of D.C. s first documented outbreak of the coronavirus last spring was a church in Georgetown, in wealthy and majority-white Ward 2. But once the virus started spreading rapidly across the city, its devastating effects fell hardest on Black and Latino residents. Ward 8, which is 92% Black, has seen the highest per-capita death rate from the virus in the District. And citywide, 74% of residents who have died from the coronavirus are Black, even though Black people make up 46% of the city s population.