JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Impact Church on Sunday hosted a free public COVID-19 vaccination clinic as coronavirus cases surge locally.
From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., people ages 12 and older received the Pfizer vaccine inside the church on Arlington Expressway. Appointments were not needed.
The walk-in clinic was part of the church’s initiative to push the community to get vaccinated.
“We believe that the doctors were created by the Lord, and He gave them the information to create this vaccine. That’s his answer to this horrible pandemic,” said Impact Church Pastor Joseph Cooper.
Cooper said he hopes to get as many people vaccinated as possible after six church members died from COVID-19 in 10 days.
”We had six members of our church pass away. All were healthy all had no pre-existing conditions. Four of them were under the age of 30 and they were all unvaccinated,” Cooper said.
Sunday’s vaccination clinic at Impact Church was the second that the church has hosted since March. According to Cooper, at least 100 people were vaccinated at the event before 11 a.m.
Jaylen Gabb is a ninth grader who received the vaccine on Sunday for the first time.
“I didn’t want to get vaccinated because it wasn’t a threat to me in the beginning,” Gabb said.
He went to the clinic alongside his father, Jason Hopkins, who was already vaccinated but wanted his son to get the shot before starting a new school year.
“I wanted to have a plan. I wanted to do something to protect him as much as I could,” Hopkins said.
As of now, Impact Church isn’t planning to host any additional vaccination clinics.