“They have the opportunity to undo the gains that we’ve worked so hard to achieve,” Sifri said.
Early in the vaccine drive, Black Americans were the focus of concerns about vaccine hesitancy and access. Newer polling shows White evangelicals now exhibit the strongest resistance.
For Gateley, this will be especially critical given Lynchburg’s large evangelical community. Liberty University, the city’s largest employer, was founded by Southern Baptist pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. Liberty clashed with health officials early in the pandemic when it quickly brought students back to in-person classes. But the university also owns and is leasing to the city a shuttered TJ Maxx store for a mass vaccination clinic, Gateley said. Liberty declined multiple requests for comment.
In Charlottesville, UVA Health has loaned the Blue Ridge Health District an array of resources, including running one of the city’s mass clinics and helping lead 28 outreach events in February and March. That, and the region advocating for more doses, should help boost vaccinations, according to Ryan McKay, Covid-19 incident commander for the Blue Ridge Health District.
“We anticipate we’re going to see a pretty big increase in the number of doses we administer," McKay said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.