Jacksonville, 6 others in Florida to offer COVID-19 vaccinations on Sunday in partnership with churches

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Seven locations in Florida, including one in Jacksonville, were offering COVID-19 vaccinations on Sunday in conjunction with places of worship, Governor Ron DeSantis announced.

“We truly believe it is important to ensure that these vaccines get into all segments of the communities, and we think working with our houses of worship is one way to do that,” DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday morning. Lynn Haven. “We started with one in Pensacola last Saturday. It was very successful. “

At 9:00 am on Sunday, St. Matthew Baptist Church in the Moncrief Ward, Jacksonville, began administering 500 preselected doses of the vaccine to people 65 and older. Rovenia Brooks and her husband, Earl, received their first dose of the vaccine there and said they have appointments to have their second dose in a few weeks.

“Our Church – Mt. Sinai (Missionary Baptist Church), Pastor (RL) Gundy – they called us home and asked if we wanted to take the shot, “said Rovenia Brooks.” At first I was nervous so I said no. The next day, Friday, I called him and I called back to church and he said call (state senator) Audrey Gibson’s office and have the secretary take your name and put it on the roll for Mt. Sinai, so I did. “

Donald Foy also explained to News4Jax how he got access to the shot.

“The appointment was made, a friend of a pastor went through the trial from him on the line and we got it in through Senator Audrey Gibson’s office,” Foy said. “That went through the process and I could get in and get it.”

In addition to Jacksonville and Lynn Haven, DeSantis said, the locations operating Sunday were in Tallahassee, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, St. Lucie and Tampa. He said there were 50 different places of worship, many of which were mostly African American churches, that attended.

“This is a lot of teamwork,” he said. ‘It was the state that provided the resources. It was the city and county that worked with all the churches to make this happen, and so they designated each church a certain number of times to receive, and then the pastor would work to help some of the older citizens for that. specific time. “

The governor said providing senior vaccinations remains a priority.

“We put seniors first,” said DeSantis. “We do it in different ways. You see some of these big hospital systems are now starting to do a lot of vaccinations. We appreciate that. You also look at some of the county’s health departments that work in their communities to get seniors vaccinated. You look at some of the drive-through sites the state supports as well as some of the locals all over the state of Florida. That has been very useful. And then our partnership with Publix. ”

According to data from the Florida Department of Health, 558,326 people in Florida had been vaccinated as of Sunday, including 275,771 people 65 and older.

Hopefully, DeSantis said, the state is slated to get about 250,000 additional shots of the first dose next week. He added that he has been asked if Florida could possibly get more.

News4Jax contacted the Florida Department of Health to confirm who was in charge of booking the appointments at St. Matthew Baptist Church, but had received no response as of Sunday afternoon.