COVID clinic in Paso Robles seeks to boost vaccine rates among Black residents
Community members can get free COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots this weekend at a clinic in Paso Robles sponsored by the San Luis Obispo County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The NAACP partnered with the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department for the mobile clinic, 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Downtown City Park.
Health workers will administer free Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses and flu shots to those 12 years and older, said Cheryl Vines, secretary of the local NAACP chapter.
There will also be free shaved ice and an Amazon gift card giveway, Vines said.
“The purpose of the event is to spread the word and educate about the COVID vaccine,” Vines said. “There’s so many health disparities as far as Black people are concerned.”
In San Luis Obispo County, Black residents have relatively low coronavirus vaccination rates compared to Black residents statewide.
Locally, about 26% of eligible Black residents are fully vaccinated against the virus, compared with about 49% of eligible Black Californians being fully vaccinated statewide, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Eligible Black residents of San Luis Obispo County also have a lower COVID-19 vaccine rate than eligible Latino, Asian American and white residents, according to state health data.
For many Black Americans, hesitancy about getting COVID-19 vaccines is rooted in fear, Vines said.
“People are fearful. They’ve been lied to,” she said. “They think back at the Tuskegee Experiment and so they’re afraid.”
The Tuskegee Experiment was a 1932 syphilis study sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service and Tuskegee University, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black men were enrolled in the study without their consent and denied treatment for syphilis, according to the CDC.
Distrust in the medical establishment has lead to lower vaccine rates and preventable COVID-19 deaths among Black Americans, Vines said.
She noted that her cousin refused to get vaccinated against coronavirus and recently died due to the virus.
“This is an educated woman,” she said. “She contracted COVID-19 and she didn’t make it.”
“It’s something that I am really passionate about, and I know that the more that we get out and advocate for it and educate people the more people will decide to get vaccinated,” Vines said.
The NAACP also hopes to reach unvaccinated Hispanic and Latinx residents through the mobile clinic, she said.
According to Vines, the clinic is a safe space to ask questions.
Where to get a COVID-19 test and schedule a vaccine appointment
Free coronavirus testing is available at clinics in Grover Beach, Morro Bay, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. To make an appointment, visit emergencySLO.org/testing or call 888-634-1123 to register by phone.
To make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine or booster, visit MyTurn.ca.gov or call 833-422-4255. The county Public Health Department is also administering vaccines and boosters on a walk-in basis at clinics in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles and Grover Beach. To find shots at pharmacies near you, visit Vaccines.gov.
The clinics are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and closed noon to 1 p.m. for lunch. They’re also open Saturdays for vaccines only from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The San Luis Obispo clinic is located at 2191 Johnson Ave., the Grover Beach clinic is located at 286 South 16th St. and the Paso Robles clinic is located at 800 Pine St.
For more information, visit RecoverSLO.org/en/when-and-where-can-you-get-vaccinated.aspx.
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 1:16 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that some Tuskegee Experiment study participants who did not have syphilis were infected with the disease. The error has been corrected.
