Featured photo: Harmony Lloyd, chief operating officer – Planning and Innovation, Flint Mass Transportation Authority (MTA)
Written by Tanya Terry
As places like local churches that played a major role in enabling well over 150,000 Genesee County residents age 16 or older to get vaccinated are seeing a decline in the number of residents visiting vaccination sites, announcements were recently made with the intent of reversing the trend.
Eli Isaguirre, Protect Michigan Commission (PMC) stakeholder engagement coordinator, announced the kickoff of Flint’s new grassroots “Street Team” vaccination outreach campaign, an effort which aligns with what Americans are doing nationwide.
“Public health authorities across the country are responding to the challenges of getting COVID-19 ‘shots in arms’ by shifting efforts from mass vaccination sites and focusing on communities with the lowest vaccination rates,” Isaguirre said.
PMC in partnership with local leaders have recruited, hired and trained the team of PMC COVID “Street Team” canvas workers. The team’s goal is to generate at least 50 enrollments per person, per day, on the five-day schedule.
The locations in Flint and surrounding communities in Genesee County where the street teams will be deployed will be determined by Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) data which show where residents are least likely to be vaccinated, according to Isaguirre. The campaign will operate on a rolling schedule in neighborhoods and at high traffic areas, such as downtown Flint and, specifically, the Mass Transportation Authority’s (MTA) downtown transfer center.
Dion Williams, director of Gov. Whitmer’s Faith-Based Affairs Office, said with the help of the Flint community his office believes they now have an opportunity to address the lack of transportation problem thanks to the support and leadership of numerous partners and stakeholders. He especially wanted to thank and recognize Rev. Daniel Moore, Sr. of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Christopher E. Martin, Sr. of Cathedral of Faith Church and Pastor Jeffrey Hawkins of Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church.
Moore said he has seen people shed tears as they’ve shared their testimonies of the terrible effects of COVID-19. He also said his church and the local church community, which works closely with the Genesee County Health Department, have received many cards, gifts and statements of gratitude from the community because the vaccines have been made available through them.
“This is everyone collectively coming together,” Williams said. “Pastors all across this country, all across the state of Michigan, have been on the forefront of everything that we’ve been doing; ministering to the community, understanding the depression that people have been facing when it comes to COVID-19 and making sure the hesitancy has been dismayed so that they can go out and get the vaccine.”
Williams then introduced four outstanding members of the new Flint-area COVID “Street Teams:” Darrick Ferguson, Keeshay Higgs, Jelecia Carter and Otis Ross.
Higgs wanted to join the campaigns because she and her mom, her sister and her stepdad all were diagnosed with COVID about a month ago. Fortunately, they are all fine now. Higgs told the Courier while going door to door she recently helped encourage a man to “stop listening to the non-given facts’” and get vaccinated to help the community, and he now feels great about doing it.
Ferguson told the Courier his grandmother had COVID during the first wave of it and when he saw how it took a toll on such a strong pillar in his life that he saw as a “superhero” it made him concerned on what was to come. Ferguson joined the team after Pastor Martin, who he trusts tremendously, asked him to consider the idea. He uses social media to encourage others to “research themselves instead of going by what people say.”
Christina Zerka created the Flint’s Save Summer 2021 campaign after conducting an Instagram poll which revealed 44% of the people in her network said they would not take the vaccine.
“Save Summer 2021 is a bi-partisan non-profit campaign and its goals are to debunk myths and misinformation since we are not only in a pandemic but a misinformation-demic as well,” Zerka said.
Additionally, the campaign’s goal is to help the U.S. reach herd immunity, which currently is in the range of 70-85% according to Zerka and a Mach 2021 estimate from Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Zerka suggested individuals not only talk to their doctors and ask them questions, but to make sure if someone providing information says they are a doctor that they are a licensed medical doctor and not another type of doctor.
She invited those interested to visit savesummer2021.com for facts from John Hopkins Medicine and the CDC.
Dr. Pamela Hackert, Genesee County Health Department medical health officer announced that as of Monday, May 17 nearly 48% of Genesee County residents age 16 or older had received one dose or more of the COVID-19 vaccine, totaling nearly 156,000 people.
“(And), equally impressive, more than 1,000 12-15 year old students (1,074) in Genesee County have already started the vaccination process,” Hackert said.
She said the opportunity exists for all Genesee County and the surrounding counties to get vaccinated at hours that work for them.
“They are available with no waiting, from 10 a.m. -8 p .m., Tuesday through Sunday night,” Hackert added.
According to the latest census data estimates, nearly 8% of working people over age 16 don’t have a vehicle available.
“News reports have also stated 18% of the households in Flint don’t have access to a vehicle,” said Harmony Lloyd, chief operating officer – Planning and Innovation, Flint Mass Transportation Authority (MTA).
Lloyd announced that as an expansion of Flint MTA’s Ride to Wellness Services, starting on May 19, MTA will provide free door-to-door trips for every resident of Genesee County to approved COVID-19 vaccination sites, including walk-in clinics.
For an appointment at Mott Community College’s recently opened vaccination clinic click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyIcOgH0TvP3139bnqarqgqoKwIwGAz_Q2UXgPxrXAZ2GDWw/viewform.
For appointments at other approved vaccination sites, click here: https://www.gchd.us/vaccinescheduler/.
For Rides to Wellness, call 810-780-8946.
