Vaccination clinic at Wichita church aims to serve minorities

A partnership aimed at putting COVID-19 vaccines in the arms of minorities will open its first clinic at a church in Wichita this weekend.

“If you look out here,” Sedgwick County Communications Director Akeam Ashford said, pointing to the people getting vaccines at the old downtown library on Thursday, “the representation are whites.”

“So the idea is we are trying to get the vaccination in the arms of people who are minorities. And that’s the reason why we are doing it in churches, in local communities. It’s not that we are trying to discourage anyone else, or alienate anyone.”

Sedgwick County’s COVID-19 website does not list demographic data on who has received the vaccine, but statewide data shows white people are vaccinated at more than twice the rate of Black people and more than 1.5 times the rate of Hispanic people.

The partnership’s first clinic runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 7 at Saint James Missionary Baptist Church, 1350 N. Ash. The second clinic will be from 1 to 5 p.m. March 14 at Tabernacle Bible Church, 1817 N. Volutsia. First doses will be given to residents with appointments.

“We are partnering with the Black Nurses Association to go out into the community in local churches,” Sedgwick County Health Department Director Adrienne Byrne said, speaking at the old library building. “Because here at the 223 South Main Street there is more diversity than what there was at (Intrust Bank Arena) but it doesn’t represent minority populations.”

Sedgwick County set up its vaccination clinic at the arena before moving over to the old library.

The nurses association, which contacted the health department, is doing most of the work, she said.

“Right now, it is critically important that we are able to vaccinate our residents who are more vulnerable for serious complications and death from COVID-19,” Margaret Thompson, a representative of Wichita Black Nurses Association, said in a news release. “By bringing the clinics into the community, people are more likely to get it and encourage others to get it as well.”

Byrne said the churches will be sharing information about the vaccinations within their communities.

“Their focus is to get, as they’ve said, shots in Black and brown arms,” she said.

She said officials organizing the event on Sunday hope to vaccinate up to 300 people.

“We will take as many vaccinations as we have arms to give,” she said.

Sedgwick County also plans to use mobile clinics to help vaccinate areas with disparities or lack of access to the vaccine, she said.

“We’re going to be targeting a lot of vulnerable areas and communities just to help them get vaccinated,” she said.

The current criteria for getting vaccinations is being a K-12 staff member, a healthcare worker or 65 and older.

The clinic at the old library was expected to vaccinate about 1,800-1,900 people on Thursday, making it one of the busiest days so far, she said. Demand for the vaccine outstrips supply, but Byrne said there was some downtime where vaccinators were sitting idle on Thursday.

She said they would likely open up registration to more people next week.

The Sedgwick County Health Department has vaccinated 52,340 people, including 17,296 people who have received their second dose.

Contributing: Jason Tidd of The Eagle

This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 3:02 PM.