Coronavirus: Public Health working with local churches to promote vaccine equity

Dayton Daily News - 1/29/2021

Jan. 29—Public Health-Dayton & Montgomery County is holding vaccine clinics at area churches in effort to promote vaccine equity in local minority communities.

"We want to make sure that nobody gets left behind," said Dan Suffoletto of Public Health.

Data from the Ohio Department of Health show that minorities are hospitalized and dying at higher rates, said Fabrice Juin of Public Health's Local Office of Minority Health. Minorities are also being vaccinated at a slower rate.

To combat that, Public Health is working with community leaders and local churches to educate residents about the vaccine and make them available to people who cannot make it to vaccine clinics at the Dayton Convention Center.

With pandemic increasing isolation for some people, Juin noted that churches have been able to keep close ties to their congregations, especially in older Black and African American communities.

By working with church, Public Health is reaching residents in an environment they trust and where they feel safe.

"We're trying to change the narrative," Juin said. "At a certain point in our history, some health intuitions lost their trust."

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley praised Public Health for its "equity lens" and "walking the talk."

She also thanked local clergy members for sharing Public Health information and also giving feedback on how the city can do better to serve minorities.

Dr. Alonzo Patterson of PriMed Physicians noted that most concerns he's heard about the vaccine is how quickly it was developed.

He noted that scientists have been working on vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccine for nearly 25 years. Scientists have been developing mRNA vaccines in recent years in response to similar virus outbreaks that did not reach a pandemic lever, Patterson added.

As a result, "researches were pretty much able to get started with trials right around the time the virus was hitting the United States," he said.

Rev. Renard Allen, pastor of St. Luke Missionary Church, encouraged people to not make enlightenment and education the enemy.

"Faith and reason are compatible," he said.

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