ATLANTA — Efforts are underway to help get the COVID-19 vaccine to people who lack access. One program is setting up one-day clinics in Atlanta neighborhoods.
The clinics are helping people like 80-year-old Billie Hicks.
She finally got her Johnson and Johnson vaccine Tuesday at a clinic at Mt. Pleasant Baptist church in south Atlanta.
"All of my friends, we can only Zoom or talk on the telephone," she said. "It’s been imprisoning. I feel safe, and you know, I'm just thrilled that I could get it," said Hicks.
Making the moment even more memorable for Hicks was the person giving her the shot.
"I saw a student that I had taught at Southwest High School in mathematics and she’s a doctor,” said Hicks.
Dr. Jayne Morgan is a part of Piedmont Healthcare's program working with non-profits to set up one-day clinics in neighborhoods across Atlanta.
The clinics are limited to people who live in the particular neighborhood to ensure they have access.
With Focused Community Strategies' help on Tuesday, they were able to vaccinate 423 people at the church.
“You’re one and done, this is it and you just know in two weeks is when you reach your full immunity,” said Morgan to Hicks after giving her the shot.
It's an example of the student becoming the teacher in the most meaningful way.
Morgan said they will be working with other non profits and providing vaccine clinics at Grove Baptist Church on March 31, Word of Faith on April 6, and Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 10.