RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
A blue van stopped on Charles Street on Friday morning. Under a grey sky, people came inside the van and quickly received their flu shots, no payment or insurance required.
The Free Flu clinic is a partnership among Community Health Care Van, CARE, and Women of the Village.
The mobile clinic has been giving out free flu shots for almost a month now.
Nathan Nunez, a Yale student, was one of those who received shots Friday. He came to the Cornell Scott Hill Center nearby to get a free Covid test, and saw the van on his way out.
Nunez, just vaccinated.
“Because I’ve taken time off, I don’t have Yale’s health insurance,” he said. “All of my household is low income, and we don’t have health insurance. So when I saw this free vaccine I thought, why not?”
For some, it was their first time getting a vaccine. “One of the women I saw today said, ‘My father ran an emergency room, but I hate the flu shot,’” said Sharon Joslin. Joslin, a nurse practitioner, has been working with the Community Health Care Van for nine years. “This is the first she’s ever had, and she was in her thirties. She was always scared.”
Tyson, waiting outside.
For others, it was a routine. Frankie Tyson usually gets his free shot at CVS, but he was on his way to work and decided to stop by. “If you wanna stay healthy, it’s good to get it, given everything else that’s going on,” he said.
“When we are living with two very serious respiratory diseases at the same time, it makes it a lot more dangerous,” added Bernard Macklin, who works for CARE and Southern Connecticut State University.
Tackling Disparities
Caro Vera receives a flu shot.
One of the goals of the Free Flu clinic has been to reduce disparities in who gets vaccinated.
“We want to give the Black and brown communities information and get them vaccinated,” said Macklin.
He cited CDC research that found that Black people have the highest rate of flu hospitalization, with every 68 out of 100,000 people being hospitalized.
Macklin has a team of eight outreach workers who go into local communities to raise awareness and dispel myths about the vaccine. “We want to meet people where they are,”Joslin said.
So why aren’t more people getting vaccinated? Besides access to care, there are a lot of myths.
“They’re scared. Everybody thinks it’s a conspiracy,” said Macklin.
“A lot of patients tell me that they got sick after the vaccine, that they think the vaccine gives you the flu,” said Joslin. “That’s not true – it makes your immune system respond with antibodies to protect you.”
Some patients that day had heard those myths.
“Some years back, they were saying that they injected people with the flu,” said Tyson. “People got paranoid to get it.”
Tyson added that he didn’t believe in those rumors, but heard them often.
The solution? Talking to one person at a time.
“For every one person who gets it, that’s one less person we have to worry about,” said Macklin.