Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell hosted a press conference recently to highlight the effectiveness of a federal, state and county partnership with community-based organizations that has resulted in over 1,700 eligible residents being vaccinated within one week at Jesse Owens Park.
Realizing that the most impacted communities had low vaccination rates and were lacking nearby vaccine sites, the Governor’s office of Emergency Services called Mitchell to talk about partnerships and asked if she could organize a site in South LA.
“This work has never been easy and requires an immense amount of coordination, people power and heart to get it done and more importantly to get it done right and equitably,” Mitchell said, noting that she put in calls to Charles Drew University, the governor’s office of community response, the Community Coalition, the director of the LA County Department of Public Health and other organizations here to serve and to save the community. “This is the model that works and it needs to be expanded.”
The Community Coalition knocked on doors, texted, sent emails and made phone calls to register participants for vaccinations.
“Both the need and the demand for the vaccine is here in south LA,” Mitchell said, explaining that she turned to trusted sources to create a team within 48 hours. “The Black and Brown communities have been disproportionately affected by this virus, and in my opinion, they deserve a disproportionate investment in them and this community.”
South LA resident Matthew N. Crawford, 36, initially had some hesitancy, but received his shot at the park.
“For me, I’m a very data-driven guy,” Crawford said, explaining that he did some research before registering for the vaccination. “My positions on things shift as the information becomes available.”
He said that the speed of vaccine development was initially a concern, but Crawford eased his reservations through research.
“It’s just a different methodology of developing vaccines,” he said.
“To a layman, it’s just a different, faster way of creating a vaccine to help fight the strain.”
Crawford is familiar with the various conspiracy theories and fallacies about inoculations but said those concerns are unfounded.
“Smartphones have microchips that legally track you, that’s information they all already have access to,” he said. “And no, the vaccine cannot change your DNA to something else. It only teaches the cells how to respond to the virus itself. It’s similar to how the flu virus works.”
Crawford works with Javonne Sanders on their mobile health food business, Toss it up Salad.
“Basically, I always encourage people to educate themselves,” he said. “It’s important to dispel misinformation.”
Department of Homeland Security – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) External Affairs Officer, Veronica Verde was also on hand for the news conference.
“We appreciate your support,” Verde said, explaining that she received her second shot that day and now feels more confident to be around her elderly parents. “We want to make sure that anybody who wants to get vaccinated is vaccinated. So through the partnership of many federal, state and local agencies, we’re going to continue to go out and reach out to the communities to show those who have a hesitancy can get vaccinated.”
Alberto Retana, CEO of Community Coalition, mentioned some infamous names when referring to the partnership efforts that made the vaccination site possible.
“I just want to invoke the words of two incredible leaders in our nation’s history, Black and Brown —‘Si se puede,’ ‘Yes, we can,’—and they were both organizers, Former President Barack Obama and Cesar Chavez.”
Dr. David Carlise, President of Charles Drew University, said he and his staff were glad to partner.
“We have only recently seen a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “The end of this pandemic is approaching us because of efforts today.”
