SMITH COUNTY, Texas — Second doses are available for the nearly 1,500 people who received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at three minority churches from March 16-19.
People who received their first does at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church and St. Louis Baptist Church in Tyler, and New Zion Baptist Church in Winona are asked to return to the same location on the same day of the week at around the same time as their first vaccine.
“We want to remind them that it is just as important to get your second dose of the vaccine as it was when you received the first dose to protect yourself from COVID-19,” Smith County Precinct 4 Commissioner JoAnn Hampton.
The second doses will be offered at the following times and locations:
- 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church and St. Louis Baptist Church in Tyler
- 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, at St. Peter Claver
- 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 8, at St. Louis Baptist
- 9:30 a.m. to1:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, at New Zion Baptist
Commissioner Hampton, along with Tyler Hispanic Business Alliance President/CEO Nancy Rangel, Tyler Metro Chamber Board Chairman Derrick Choice, and Lisa Williams, with Black Nurses Rock Tyler, organized the pop-up clinics and sent out invitations to local churches for their congregations to sign up for the vaccine clinics.
“We wanted to bring the vaccines to the people in our African American and Hispanic communities,” Commissioner Hampton said. “By bringing these vaccine clinics to their churches, we thought they would be more comfortable in coming to get a vaccine.”
The Northeast Texas Public Health District and Christus Trinity Mother Frances employees administered the vaccines at the clinics while many volunteers from several agencies donated their time.