NORFOLK, Va. — On a sunny Friday morning at Ivy Baptist Church in Norfolk, Trinity Brooks rolled up her sleeve and got vaccinated against COVID-19. The high school senior living in Hampton showed up to Sentara’s community clinic at the church with her mom and her grandma.
Together, the mother and daughter got vaccinated.
“It’s like a relief so we don’t have to be worried,” said Trinity.
“It helps because my mom is older, so we just wanted to do our part to protect our family,” said Trinity's mother, Melissa Brooks.
They showed up, but health leaders say overcoming vaccine hesitancy among the rest of the population is the next big hurdle.
Nearly half of all adults in Virginia have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health.
But recently, overall demand at the church’s clinic has slowed down tremendously. Iris Lundy, Sentara’s Healthcare’s Health Equity Director, said that weeks ago, the clinic was vaccinating about 1,200 people every Friday.
But this Friday, just over 100 people showed up.
Now, Lundy’s team and church leaders are ramping up community outreach and doubling down on misinformation.
It comes as Virginia opens up vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older.
“What we’re probably seeing is now we have to continue to work with people who might have some vaccine hesitancy, some who might have misinformation or some myths that are out there,” said Lundy. "We will continue to educate our public and continue to be here.”
17-year-old Madison Johnson also showed up to get her vaccine at the clinic on Friday.
“My grandma is elderly, and I wanted to make sure that I get the vaccine so I can hang around her more,” said Johnson.
Lundy hopes others will step up to the plate and get the vaccine for the greater good.
“What I’m imploring people, what I’m asking is please consider me, consider your neighbor, your nana and poppa… because we need to try to save them,” said Lundy. “This vaccine takes us one step closer to saving them, saving others, and getting back to some sense of normalcy. This is how we’ll do it.”
Sentara Healthcare’s community vaccine clinic at Ivy Baptist Church is every Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon.
You can schedule an appointment here.