Vaccine hesitancy, not availability, now South Dallas’ largest barrier

By |Published On: April 26, 2021|Categories: South Dallas|
Debra Jones, a Dallas Bethlehem Center volunteer, situates a sign to show neighbors they can be registered on site to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Photo by Sierra Medlock

As Calora Hopkins waited for a box of food at Dallas Bethlehem Center, she watched as volunteers registered people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but she didn’t add her name to the registry.

It was February, and the vaccine was starting to become more available to senior citizens and people with underlying health conditions. Hopkins, 60, fit both categories, with a history of cancer and seizures. Dallas County was giving doses at its Fair Park hub, located in the same South Dallas neighborhood as Dallas Bethlehem Center.

Still, Hopkins said, “I’m waiting on the side effects. That’s the history of our vaccines — you wait about four to five months.”

By spring, she said, “we’ll be on a smooth rolling plan with no headaches or nothing. People get up there, they don’t have no appointments, it’s gone be like the flu shot.”

Hopkins’ prediction came true. At this point, anyone 16 or older can receive the vaccine, and providers are working to bring it directly to community centers. Several sites in South Dallas have been registering neighbors to receive St. Luke’s “Community” United Methodist Church hosted a vaccine clinic in early April, and Baylor Scott & White Health and Wellness Center at the Juanita Craft Recreation Center has made walk-up vaccines available at its partner site, Good Street Baptist Church

As of this week, Texas data shows that 10,384 people in South Dallas zip codes 75210 and 75215 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 40% of the population. A total of 4,175 people are fully vaccinated. 

Now that anyone who wants a vaccine can get one, the challenge is overcoming barriers such as internet access needed to register for the vaccine and transportation needed to get to appointments, plus the even more daunting barrier of trust. In disinvested neighborhoods like South Dallas, Black residents have not forgotten the historical racism inherent in our country’s medical practices. 

Betty Wilkins and her granddaughter wait for a box of food at Dallas Bethlehem Center in February. Wilkins, 69, had already registered online for the vaccine but hadn’t yet been given an appointment, so she registered again with the center’s volunteers. Photo by Sierra Medlock

Since February, Fred Jones, interim director of Dallas Bethlehem Center, has been at the site every Thursday morning when people pick up boxes of food. He walks from car to car as they wait for their box to be loaded into the trunk, checking to see if anyone needs to be added to the county’s vaccine registry.

“I