Pop-Up Vaccine Event Targeted Sarasota’s Minority Communities

SARASOTA, FL — A pop-up coronavirus vaccination clinic held Sunday at World International Church in Newtown is the first of what local advocates hope will be many events bringing the sought-after vaccine to members of Sarasota County’s minority groups, Trevor D. Harvey, president of the NAACP’s Sarasota County Branch, said.

Around 300 people received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Sunday’s event, which was a partnership between the NAACP, the Department of Health in Sarasota County, the Multicultural Health Institute and other community partners, Steve Huard, DOH public information officer, said. While many of those vaccinated at the event were already registered through the county’s vaccine registration system, some individuals were not and, instead, were identified as vulnerable to the virus by community leaders, he added.

Harvey said members of the NAACP and other local advocates have been working to bring pop-up point-of-distribution (pod) events to the county’s “Black and brown communities to close the disparity gap we’ve been seeing” since the vaccine first rolled out in Florida at the end of December.

“We have been advocating since day one in the Sarasota community. We have continued to see disproportionately a lack of vaccinations in those most vulnerable African American and Latino communities,” he said. “Our goal was to bring a collaboration of community stakeholders together to advocate for this gap that we are seeing, as far as vaccinations go, and to close it.”

The county’s vaccination numbers say it all, Harvey added. According to state data, as of Saturday, nearly 72,000 people received at least their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Sarasota County. Of these individuals, 670 are Black and 974 are Hispanic, the Sarasota County vaccine summary said. These numbers don’t include data from Sunday’s pop-up event at World International Church.

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“We realized that we have a population in the community that is underserved. We're well aware of that. We can look at the numbers and see these individuals are not receiving the vaccine at the same rate as other individuals,” Huard said.

Sunday’s pop-up event was the first of its kind, but the DOH and its partners have identified other places of worship in primarily African American communities, he said. For now, many of these churches are located in Sarasota, but as vaccine doses become more available, he hopes to host similar events in other parts of the county.

Hosting these vaccination events at churches makes sense when trying to reach these underserved communities, Harvey said.

“In the Black and brown community, the churches are houses of refuge for us,” he said. “The churches are the foundation and fabric of who we are in the Black and brown communities. When we have struggles and issues, we can always count on the church to be there for us. What better way to have these pods than to have them hosted in our faith communities?”

While Sunday’s pop-up was a step in the right direction, “it’s not enough,” Harvey said. He hopes that as the vaccine becomes more widely available, these pod events will be held on a weekly basis throughout the county.

It’s frustrating to see large-scale pop-up events organized for wealthy communities, like Lakewood Ranch, he added, referring to a recent state-run vaccine clinic targeting the two wealthiest ZIP codes in Manatee County.

“The vulnerable communities are sitting here like, ‘Wait a minute. These people already have access to these vaccinations. Why are you setting up in special zip codes when communities are really suffering and not having access to the vaccine,’” he said. “For every person that can get their arm stuck (at these pod events), we are very, very appreciative, but it’s not enough. We need to get the governor and all the other power brokers to understand that if they really want to close the gap, these vulnerable communities really need to be a priority.”

While that gap remains, the NAACP’s advocacy work will continue, Harvey said. “Our advocacy work is not stopping. This has to continue, and our goal is to see one day soon that we are able to have these (pop-up events) every single weekend somewhere in the vulnerable communities.”

Huard said the DOH is on board to bring more vaccine clinics to these underserved communities.

“Sunday was the first time we were able to do a pop-up of its nature in Sarasota County and we hope to be able to do many more of these in coming days. Really, it’s based on vaccine availability and having the manpower to run them,” he said.