To Take or Not to Take? Clergy Leaders Advocate for Coronavirus Vaccine BY AUSTIN FENNER
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ev. Calvin Butts took a shot in the arm for the community. The Harlem pastor rolled up his sleeve and a nurse injected him with the coronavirus vaccine. The serum will inoculate his immune system and protect his body from the invisible, killer virus projected to claim over 500,000 American lives by March 1, 2021. “I took the injection. We want to save lives,” Butts told The Positive Community. “The first line of defense in the Black community against any crisis is the Black Church.” The first signs of people falling ill to the contagion emerged just over one year ago in January 2020. The virus, also known as COVID-19, has ravaged Black and Brown communities in the New York metropolitan region. Butts’ Abyssinian Baptist Church spearheads an effort with Rev. Al Sharpton to create 50 pop-up vaccine stations in five cities to get people vaccinated against the deadly virus — New York; Newark; Baltimore; Washington, DC; and Detroit. Ten churches in each city will host a pop-up vaccine station. More than 500 people recently received the vaccinations at the venerated Harlem church. “We are advocating for people to take the vaccine,” said Butts. “We are advocating people get tested.” The Black Church had to unveil the old playbook for fighting AIDS to combat the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus. “We had a major virus claiming lives. It was AIDS,” Butts said, reflecting on that dark period of American life. He explained that more than 30 years ago a colleague named Deborah Frazier Howze organized a coalition called “Choose A Healthy Life.” The name comes from Deuteronomy 30:19, which says, “I’ve sat before Heaven and Earth... choose life so you and your seed may live.” “We are advocating for people to take the vaccine,” said Butts. “We are advocating people get tested.” Choose A Healthy Life led to the formation of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. That
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The Positive Community Winter 2021
L–R: Debra Fraser-Howze, Rev. Calvin O. Butts III and Rev. Al Sharpton
framework is now in use to combat the coronavirus. “We changed attitudes. We stemmed the tide on AIDS,” said Butts. “We took that model to fight COVID. We encourage people to be tested.” The organization will be adding 16 cities to the popup vaccine program through the Black Church network. “It’s killing more of us than anybody else,” Butts said. “We are catching fire.” Butts is a member of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Vaccine Equity Task Force. “We were able to convince the governor we need to do more to get the vaccine to the community,” he explained. Gov. Cuomo spelled out the unmitigated truth about the killer virus when he said Black and Latino communities die at higher rates than the white community. “Take the vaccine. It will save lives and it can save your life,” said Cuomo at a pop-up vaccine station in a Brooklyn public housing development. Cuomo teamed up with Democratic Brooklyn Congressmembers Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke to encourage participation. “We will make it accessible, but you need to take it,” the Governor added. More than 4,200 seniors and eligible New Yorkers received their first vaccine dose at churches and New York City Housing Authority developments at a weekend campaign. Somos Community Care is managing the scheduling process and providing healthcare workers to administer the vaccines. www.thepositivecommunity.com
