St. Dominic Hospital teams up with area churches to provide COVID vaccine

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - St. Dominic hospital is working with area churches to make sure more people have access to the COVID vaccination.

Vaccinations were available Wednesday at Greater Bethlehem Temple in Jackson. 200 doses of the vaccine were brought to the church.

Church leaders say they were hopeful having the vaccination site at the church would help those... — Church leaders say they were hopeful having the vaccination site at the church would help those in the west Jackson community.(WLBT)

Every appointment was filled. Healthcare providers at St. Dominic say churches are the pillars of the community and this was a way to give access to those in under served communities.

Robert Weathersby, Director of Clinical Outreach and Telehealth for St. Dominic said, “we know that there is a gap in the number of individuals in the African American and brown communities that are getting vaccinated and so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to come out and get vaccinated so that if they were in the future to be exposed to the virus then it won’t be as detrimental.”

Church leaders at Greater Bethlehem Temple say there was a steady stream of people who wanted... — Church leaders at Greater Bethlehem Temple say there was a steady stream of people who wanted to get the vaccination.(WLBT)

Ervin Ricks, the Communications Director for Greater Bethlehem Temple said, “we’ve had people here that came from North Mississippi, South Mississippi as well. There are a lot of people that had transportation issues and they really wanted to be able to get the vaccine today. They know that it’s been a difficult challenge for some of them. They don’t have the access that they need to so St. Dominic is a brand that they trust. They trust the healthcare professionals there and we’re just glad to be able to partner with them to do it.”

Church leaders were also hopeful having the vaccination site would help those in the west Jackson community. They tell us there was a steady stream of people who wanted to get the vaccination.