Pop-up vaccine clinics part of effort to reach underserved communities

Call them the vaccine persuaders.

“Want to get vaxxed?” Nausheena Hussain called out to drivers on Dupont Avenue in north Minneapolis.

“Really trying to help people change their hearts and minds,” says Hussain, with the group Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, or RISE. “We noticed there is some racial disparities when it comes to people who either have gotten COVID or who are receiving the vaccine.”

Last week, the state announced it would start addressing vaccination inequities. Now the health department is partnering with community groups to get vaccines to underserved populations.

The Dupont Avenue pop-up location is part of that effort.

“Something said, you need to do this,” says Willie Young, from Minneapolis, who stopped by Wednesday to get his first COVID shot. “Because this is not only yourself, this is not only for you, it’s for the whole world.”

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Community volunteers and workers are hoping to reach out to the reluctant or those who just haven’t had the chance to get their shot.

"We thought, ‘Let’s bring this mobile vaccine bus to the community, meet people where they’re at, so that they have the opportunity to get vaccinated,’” Hussain said.

A diverse group of volunteers, the Minnesota Department of Health and Blue Cross are joining forces in this fight.

“I did have an appointment coming up, but it was like in a month,” says Leslie Pfannenstein, from Minneapolis. “But I just felt like the opportunity was here, I would get it done earlier.”

Pfannenstein, who has a health care background, says she has no issues with getting the vaccine — but she has friends who do.

"They are very reluctant. In fact, they’re adamant that they’re not going to get vaccinated,” Pfannenstein said. “They just believe a lot of is a hoax, to be honest.”

“People are hearing about certain anomalies, reactions to those vaccines,” Hussain adds. “We’re also trying to educate people about what are the different types of vaccine, what to expect, two doses versus one dose.”

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Volunteers say they’re using personal stories in the persuasion effort.

Hussain told us about an account she heard from a coworker.

"Their sister didn’t want to take the vaccine, but their niece said, ‘Hey mom, everybody around me has passed away,’” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if you go, so she went and got her vaccine."

Blue Cross says partner clinics like this have provided 2,500 shots since mid-April. Recipients who got their first shot Wednesday will be able to return for their second on June 16.

RISE and the Southeast Asian Diaspora Project have brought in people fluent in numerous languages to help with communication. Organizers are planning another pop-up clinic in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in the next few weeks.

For his part, Young, turning 60 next week, says he was initially reluctant to get vaccinated. Now, he says, is the right time.

"I was thinking about what the reactions would be from the shot,” Young said. “What changed my mind is I needed to take myself first, and anybody else that I love or my friends, that I’d be around. I needed to protect them, too.”