Georgia officials praise Augusta University-church partnership efforts for COVID-19 vaccine outreach

Louise Wainwright was sitting in a folding chair at Good Shepherd Baptist Church after getting her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan held a brief press conference at the other end of the room. But for Wainwright, the most important figure in her decision to overcome her concerns and get the vaccine was standing off to Duncan's left, her pastor, the Rev. Clarence Moore.

Moore was one of a group of pastors of historically Black churches in the Augusta area who partnered with AU Health System to not only get the vaccine but, in Good Shepherd's case, to serve as an outreach site. Moore's wife got it as well, Wainwright said.

"It made me feel a lot more comfortable when they both took it," said Wainwright, 80.

Duncan and other state leaders toured the site and heard from AU Health officials on their outreach efforts to get to underserved communities.

"I see this as a model for other areas around the state," Duncan said. And those pastors have shown "the power of example and the power of leadership."

Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and a graduate of Medical College of Georgia, concurred.

"It makes me so proud of how everybody has come together," he said. Watson, an internal medicine physician, has done his own part by taking part in the clinical trial for the Moderna vaccine and received his second dose in September. 

"The more shots in arms, the better off we all are," he said.

Augusta University President Brooks Keel said, to date, AU Health has given 27,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and in places like Good Shepherd that make it more convenient for people in different communities.

"We want to get the vaccine into the homes of individuals," he said. And because of those vaccination efforts "we have renewed hope for tomorrow," Keel said.

Georgia still has a long way to go in terms of equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, according to an Augusta Chronicle analysis of Georgia Department of Public Health data. Of the 1.176 million doses for which the state supplied racial data, whites have received 63.51% of vaccine and Blacks 16.97%, where whites are 60.2% of the state's population and Blacks are 32.6%, the analysis found.

Part of AU Health's outreach at Good Shepherd and in other places is trying to help those numbers.

AU Health has stepped up to help the state with testing, research and now vaccination, Duncan said.

"Thank you for answering the call right out of the gates," he said. 

But while government and its partners have their place, charitable organizations and churches also should play a role, Duncan said.

"At the end of the day, there's nothing better than a church that shows up and wants to do good," he said.