Winnipeg's South Sudanese community hosts pop-up vaccine clinic, hopes to combat fear and misinformation
Volunteers were on hand to provide information and translation to help ease fears
Manitoba's South Sudanese community held a pop-up vaccine clinic in Winnipeg on Friday to help encourage people who may still be hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine to roll up their sleeves.
"We don't want people to be afraid of the vaccine, because it's the only way we can start doing our normal activities," said Margaret Yanga, the vice-president of the Council of South Sudanese Community of Manitoba.
"We wanted to bring [the vaccine] closer to our community so we would be able to explain."
With the help of about half a dozen volunteers, who were on hand to answer questions and provide translation for those who don't speak English, Yanga said the goal was to break down barriers that some people face when it comes to getting vaccinated.
"[Explain] what the vaccine is, the benefit of the vaccine, and also how it's going to protect every one of us," Yanga said.
The clinic was held at the Sudanese Canadian Community Centre on Dagmar Street, with the help of a grant from the Manitoba government.
About 200 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were available to anyone who walked in, and no appointment was needed.
Yanga said many people in the Sudanese community don't have the means of getting to vaccine supersites or have access to the internet to book appointments.
She said misinformation is also a big challenge in getting people to sign up for a shot. Yanga said anyone who still has concerns is encouraged to speak to their doctor.
As of Friday, 80.3 per cent of Manitobans age 12 and over had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 72.4 per cent had both doses.
Youth volunteers on-hand to help
Esther German was one of the volunteers at Friday's clinic, helping people fill out their forms and answering questions.
"Most people are kind of afraid because the vaccine has [only] been worked on for a while and everybody's a little bit unsure, but I think it's a really important thing to do to keep everybody safe," German said.
The 18-year-old is now fully vaccinated, but she said she was initially hesitant to do so.
"At first I was a little bit scared but the people [giving me the vaccine] were really, really helpful and really nice and they answered all my questions, so I was a little bit better afterwards."
German, a recent high-school graduate, said she wanted to help others through the process and hopefully help life get back to normal.
"COVID-19 has been a rough time for me… I've lost a lot of chances to do some things," she said.
"I recently graduated high school and my graduation wasn't really the best, so I took my vaccine to help other people experience their own graduation properly and have everybody live their lives."
Organizers of the clinic say if there's enough demand, they would not hesitate to offer another clinic.
