The “Doses to Doors” program is underway in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina — and it’s turning a meddlesome idea into reality.
Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki touched on the idea of door-to-door COVID vaccine promotion during a press briefing. The idea sparked intense controversy, posed numerous questions about the Biden administration’s apparently draconian attempt to force vaccinations on the people and called us to consider what this “door-to-door” push might look like.
It raises the question: What will you do when they come to your door?
The push underway in North Carolina looks different from what many of us imagined before. These door-to-door activists aren’t federal government employees but are rather non-profit volunteers, just as Psaki later clarified (I’ll give her credit where she’s due).
According to Charlotte’s WBTV, non-profit organizations like Action NC had already taken door-to-door vaccine promotion into their own hands before the idea received national attention.
But there’s a key difference between Action NC’s present and previous pushes.
Now, these volunteers have health department staff on standby, ready to offer the vaccine to residents inside their own homes.
The program specifically targets “priority ZIP codes” that have low percentages of vaccinated residents. It began Monday at a Charlotte apartment complex called the South Side Homes.
According to WBTV’s report, most residents either claimed they had already been vaccinated or rejected the vaccine on-site, saying they weren’t interested.
Four residents received COVID vaccines at their homes, WBTV reported.
“We’re not confrontational, it’s not like you have to get the shot,” Action NC member Robert Dawkins told the station. “But our job is to dispel rumors and things.”
He said having the vaccine present makes a difference.
“We get people that will say ‘yes, I will get the shot’, but the follow-up has always been the issue,” he added. “Will they go? How can we get people to go out and go? So, now that the health department is out with us, we miss that middle step now.”
The racial makeup of the crew also makes a difference, Dawkins told WCNC-TV.
“You’ll see the majority of the crew is African American or Latinx because it’s hard for people to find commonality in a subject if they don’t see themselves in it,” Dawkins told the station. “It’s not confrontational. It’s not like you’ve got to get the shot but it’s our job to dispel those rumors.”
WCNC’s report is below.
Door-To-Door Vaccines Launch In North Carolina... pic.twitter.com/oWUlYMF9b5
— Covid-1984 (@Covid_1984_) July 13, 2021
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