COVID vaccination site opens at Broward church as legislators petition for better leadership
Several Broward mayors and lawmakers joined Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones Sunday morning as he opened a coronavirus vaccination site at a local church.
More than 500 senior citizens received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Koinonia Worship Center in Pembroke Park. Organized by Jones, the event emphasized unity as the only way to confront the virus that has already killed more than 23,000 people in Florida alone.
“COVID doesn’t have a political party,” Jones said to reporters.
Cars filled with excited seniors snaked around the Pembroke Park church and extended into the street. For Willie and Collis Bell, the vaccine represented an opportunity to regain a piece of their lives they felt had been lost. The retired couple had to step back from volunteering with their respective fraternities and sorority, serving in their church and even seeing their 4-year-old granddaughter at the onset of the pandemic. Despite battling nerves the previous night, Collis and her husband arrived at Koinonia Sunday morning, received the vaccine and were home by lunch.
“We’re both feeling fine,” Collis, 65, said, “and I can now tell some of my sorors and he can tell his brothers what we did today.”
“It was completely painless,” Willie, 65, added.
The Bells’ experience differed greatly from that of those who booked vaccine appointments through Jackson Health System. Long lines and website crashes hindered many seniors’ ability to receive the immunization. The growing frustration prompted legislators like Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis for what she deemed a “flawed” vaccine rollout.
“How are we going to inspire confidence in people getting the vaccine if you aren’t even able to clearly coordinate and explain to them how they can get it?” Wasserman Schultz said.
With COVID-19 continuing to disproportionately affect Black and brown communities, DeSantis said he wanted to use churches as vaccination sites yet offered no specifics. It took Jones partnering with the Florida Division of Emergency Management to create one of the county’s first distribution sites located at a worship center.
“Within the church, we have great contact with a whole lot of people and a lot of seniors… so it’s only wise to use us as a channel to inform,” said Dr. Eric Jones, Koinonia Worship Center’s pastor and Shevrin’s father.
As the elder Jones alluded to, legislators hope that utilizing churches will help build trust between medical professionals and the Black community.
“When [the Black community has] a crisis, we always turn to our churches,” State Sen. Perry Thurston said.
Seniors who received the immunization on Sunday will have to return three weeks later for their second dose. In the meantime, the younger Jones and others pledged to continue working with their colleagues across the aisle to ensure that the vaccine will be accessible for everyone.
“Campaigns are over. We are here. It’s time to govern,” Jones said.
This story was originally published January 10, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
