Sacramento, Calif. – Every Friday at the Sam & Bonnie Pannell Community Center, located in the heart of South Sacramento’s Meadowview neighborhood, thousands of individuals and families have lined up to receive their COVID-19 vaccine from a team of volunteer vaccinators working in orderly rows. Now, in their fifth week, the clinic team plans to provide 3,400 vaccinations to eligible South Sac residents in a single day.
In collaboration with Sacramento County Public Health, the City of Sacramento, Supervisor Patrick Kennedy, and 15 local community-based organizations, Councilmember Mai Vang and her team have launched South Sacramento’s largest regular vaccine clinic, located in one of the county’s most COVID-impacted areas. On the clinic’s first day alone, 90% of vaccines were administered to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — and 52% to individuals whose primary language was not English.
“Since Day One, we have been focused on ensuring that Sacramento recovers equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Councilmember Vang. “This starts with ensuring that vaccine access, resources, and education are delivered in languages spoken by our community, by people trusted by our community – and that they’re provided right here in South Sacramento, where they’re needed the most.”
The Pannell Center Vaccine Clinic has administered almost 3,200 vaccine doses over the course of the last four weeks, with registrations being completed by 15 partner organizations with deep roots in South Sacramento.
Dr. Tecoy Porter, Sr., Senior Pastor at Genesis Church Sacramento, has also been helping to coordinate appointments and volunteers for the Pannell Clinic. “We all have been hearing for some time now that the path out of this pandemic is through vaccinations,” said Dr. Porter. “When asked to have the Genesis Church work with Councilwoman Mai Vang and other community organizations to partner in setting up a vaccination clinic to serve the most vulnerable in our area was a no-brainer. We have helped so many, including my family, to get vaccinated, and for that, I am forever grateful.”
Mai Nguyen, Executive Director of Community Partners Advocate of Little Saigon Sacramento, has been a regular volunteer at the clinic: “The Pannell Center Vaccine Clinic allowed us to serve the Vietnamese American folks who are located in neighborhoods that have been hard-hit by COVID-19, and those who are faced with a language barrier when accessing available vaccines. This project has become a great resource for our community and has built a network of trust in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Hmong Youth and Parents United and Hmong Innovating Politics, community organizations serving Sacramento’s large Hmong population, have been staffing their phone lines to book appointments. “Hmong Youth and Parents United is proud to be a part of the coalition working to provide support and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Pahoua Yang, HYPU’s Resource Coordinator. “Sacramento’s Hmong population is deeply underserved, and many reside in the county’s most-impacted ZIP codes. We strive to target these vulnerable populations and provide access to communities that need our help the most, which means providing language-accessible care where it can be easily reached.”
The Sacramento chapter of the NAACP has also been active in reaching out to South Sacramento’s Black community to ensure that they have equitable access to vaccinations. “Ongoing inequities compromise our health, making COVID a bigger threat to people of color,” said President Betty Williams. “We responded by giving out masks and advocated to remove barriers to testing and vaccines. Now, we’ve connected over 200 people to getting vaccines through our COVID In My Neighborhood phone line at health clinics and pop-ups such as Councilwoman Mai Vang’s work at the Pannell Center. It’s been a great service to our community and we appreciate working with so many trusted cultural organizations to protect the health of our community.”
Appointments for a COVID-19 vaccination can be made by calling any of our community partners:
- Sacramento NAACP – (916) 750-5625
- South Sac Christian Center – (916) 681-6791
- Genesis Church – (916) 399-4936
- Rose Family Creative Empowerment Center – (916) 376-7916
- Antioch Progressive Church – (916) 385-8498
- La Familia Counseling Center (speaks Spanish, Arabic, and Hmong) – (916) 990-1311
- Tetteh Pediatric Health (speaks Spanish and Hmong) – (916) 224-8244
- Hmong Innovating Politics (speaks Hmong) – (916) 546-5254
- Hmong Youth & Parents United (speaks Hmong) – (916) 761-1840
- CPALSs (speaks Vietnamese) – (916) 891-9999
Or, new to this week’s clinic, individuals can contact the City of Sacramento Vaccine Text Hotline by texting “vaccine” to (916) 476-2225 to answer some basic questions about eligibility and get placed on a list for volunteers to call them and make an appointment for this Friday, April 9 between 9:00am and 2:00pm.
###
Mai Vang was elected to a four-year term on the Sacramento City Council in 2020 and represents the city’s Eighth District, which includes the neighborhoods of Meadowview, Parkway, Valley Hi, and North Laguna.
