Volunteers Vaccinated Fair Haven

And set a statewide standard in the process.

“This, mi gente, is what community health looks like,” said Vaccinate Fair Haven organizer Kica Matos.

Matos made the remark as she and fellow participants enjoyed cupcakes on Wednesday to celebrate the conclusion of their Vaccinate Fair Haven campaign, one week after knocking on the last door in Fair Haven on May 5.

Neighbors and community organizations launched the campaign on March 13. Over 430 volunteers split up the neighborhood into ​“turfs” and followed up door knocking with phone calls. Some volunteers also helped staff the vaccination sites.

The volunteers were able to immediately sign up over 600 people through the campaign. The goal was to vaccinate 17,141 Fair Haveners. While zipcode data is not available yet, Fair Haven Community Health Center (FHCHC) has vaccinated over 18,000 people since January. Other groups involved in the effort were LEAP, New Haven Rising!, Frank H. Netter SOM Student National Medical Association Chapter, Clifford Beers, CT Shoreline Indivisible, Yale Social Justice and Health Equity Program, Frank H. Netter School of Medicine Latino Medical Student Association Chapter, CT Hispanic Democratic Caucus, Ward 14 Democratic Committee, Elm City Communities.

The Fair Haven-focused health center saw a spike in minority New Haveners requesting shots as well. In January, 30 percent of the people the center vaccinated were people of color. That number went up to 79 percent in April, with the largest change among Latinos.

The state, in contrast, has fully vaccinated 50 percent of white residents and only 28 percent of Black and Latino residents.

“The state has failed people of color during this pandemic. They should be embarrassed and step it up,” Matos said.

Matos offered a few ways the state could do better. When the campaign started, they asked the state to waive vaccine age restrictions for Fair Haven residents as a pilot for microtargeting hard-hit neighborhoods. The state did not agree to the request.

Now with all ages eligible to get vaccinated in Connecticut, the state could support other community groups that want to canvass. The key is for neighbors to talk with neighbors, she explained.

She recalled canvassing some of her longtime neighbors. They are a large family, with seven living in one house. All wanted to sign up for the vaccine immediately, and they begged Matos to talk with their one vaccine-hesitant sibling.

So Matos went next door and asked to sit down with the sibling for a conversation.

His main concern was whether the vaccine had been developed long enough to be safe, plus his own fear of shots. Matos talked through all of the information on the flyer from FHCHC about why the vaccine was safe.

Within 10 to 15 minutes, the neighbor decided he was ready to be vaccinated, as long as he could get the one-shot version.

In general, Matos reported, she found few hesitant neighbors.

“The majority we spoke to didn’t know how to sign up. Part of our theory was that structural barriers are preventing people of color from getting vaccinated, not hesitancy,” Matos said.

Matos and the other organizers explicitly focused on lowering language, internet and transportation barriers for their neighbors. They worked with the M7 taxi company to provide free rides to people with transportation hurdles. Every pair of canvassers had at least one bilingual member. The health center hosted a pop-up vaccination clinic on the weekend.

Sofia Tecocoatzi and her sister Ines Sanchez got vaccinated through the campaign. Tecocoatzi was involved in the campaign as a member of Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA). ULA members canvassed Fair Haven at all hours and in all weather in the name of a member who had passed away from Covid-19 before she had access to a vaccine.

Tecocoatzi and Sanchez wanted to get the vaccine as soon as they were eligible. Nearly all of the family had already gotten Covid-19, except for Tecocoatzi. They wanted to return to normal life and prevent further spread of the disease.

Thanks to Tecocoatzi’s involvement in Vaccinate Fair Haven, Tecocoatzi knew exactly when the age restrictions would change. She was able to sign herself and her sister up for appointments immediately.

Another ULA member, Andrea Medina, noticed some neighbors change their minds when given more information. Some thought they would have to pay to get the vaccine, or present a social security number or other form of citizenship identification. Medina was able to explain that they did not need any of those things.

Different members of the Vaccinate New Haven team discovered other barriers. Clifford Beers Community Health Organizer Luz Ramos found that many neighbors needed vaccine appointments on the weekends and evenings, after work.

FHCHC CEO Suzanne Lagarde noticed that many of her clients had trouble navigating the online, English-language Vaccine Administration Management System. Her clients often did not have the emails required to log into the site. Seeing so many patients from outside of Fair Haven was what prompted her to reach out to Matos in January.

Fair Haven neighbor Sarah Miller saw how much easier it was for neighbors to call someone they know to help them navigate the sign-up system.

“I got a lot of phone calls from people who would say, ​‘I hear you are one of those vaccine people,’” Miller said.

Like many of those involved in the campaign, Miller has been involved in politics and activism in Fair Haven for years. Miller helps organize the parent and teacher group, the New Haven Public School Advocates. She decided recently to run for Ward 14 alder. Elm City Montessori teacher Dave Weinreb, who organized all the volunteers and fielded many vaccination phone calls, highlighted that Fair Haven’s alders from Wards 14, 15, and 16 have yet to say yes to requests to be involved in the campaign.

“We could do this, because we’ve done this before on all kinds of issues,” Miller said.

Fair Haven Community Health Care is getting ready to vaccinate the next age group newly eligible — 12 to 15 year-olds. Vaccinate Fair Haven is waiting in the wings for the next call for help from their health care experts.