Vauoti Tuga receives a vaccine at the Manai Fou Assembly of God Church in Airport Heights on Feb. 23, 2021 (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians have some of the lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccination of any group in Alaska, and highest rates of hospitalization and death. Community leaders have gotten creative to encourage vaccination.
That brought a vaccine clinic to the Manai Fou Assembly of God Church in Airport Heights on Tuesday, where leaders teamed up with Anchorage’s health department to bring a clinic to a place where many Islanders feel at home.
“Having it in a church setting is more comfortable, because this is what we grew up with,” said Ian Taula, a Samoan Anchorage resident who had just received his first dose of vaccine.
Tuesday’s clinic had a different feel than most vaccine sites. A crew of three chefs in the kitchen chopped vegetables and sang along to Samoan music. Balloons hung in the entryway, and in the holding area where patients waited to make sure they didn’t have adverse reactions, there was a lavish table spread of sandwiches, fruit, and lemon-infused water.
Volunteers from the Manai Fou Assembly of God Church prepared a variety of food for the community vaccine clinic in Airport Heights on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) “Especially in our culture: when there’s no food and I don’t think there’s a gathering,” said Judy Tanuvasa, a nurse and community leader who organized the clinic. Her husband is the pastor at the church.
Seiuli Leota works in the kitchen at the Manai Fou Assembly of God Church on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) The vaccinations were open to anyone regardless of race, as long as they qualified under current state criteria.
“It’s not about one group being more important than the other but really recognizing the negative impact and the higher risks that they are and that there’s just more challenges for them accessing more traditional sites,” said Anchorage Public Health Manager Christy Lawton.
State data shows that only 350 Alaskans who identify as Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiians had received the vaccine as of Wednesday. That data isn’t complete, but health officials say there is a clear disparity.
Lawton said state numbers from January showed troubling numbers.
“They were showing literally like 0% initially vaccinated,” said Lawton.
That number has improved, and city data shows that about 2% of the Islander population is now vaccinated. But that’s still just a tenth of the rate of the general population.
“There is progress happening, but clearly, it’s a real outlier when compared to the other groups,” she said.
On Tuesday morning, nearly all of the clinic visitors were Polynesian. The clinic offered a total of 80 vaccines, about half of which were open to walk-in. That’s not much considering the 144,000 people in the state who have received a dose of vaccine. But for the Islander community, which numbers about 8,000 in Anchorage, the clinic combined with another clinic scheduled for Thursday, the effort could boost current vaccination rates by 50%.
Anchorage residents wait during a 15-minute observation period after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, during the community vaccine clinic held at Manai Fou Assembly of God Church in Airport Heights on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) State data shows that other racial groups, particularly the Black community, have been getting vaccinated at a much lower rate than the general population. Leaders in that community say they are also working on getting a vaccination site stood up at least one church soon.
Lawton said the idea of short-term vaccine clinics came up at a Zoom community conversation the city hosted, and Lucy Hansen, President of the Polynesian Association, reached out.
“They were one of the first ones that raised their hands and said, ‘Please come,’” she said.
Judy Tanuvasa convinced the Manai Fou church to donate the use of the church space and even found volunteers for cooking. Tanuvasa said she took the whole week off work (she’s a nurse at the Alaska Native Medical Center) to help organize the clinic, and volunteer with translation.
Lusiana Hansen (left) and Judy Tanuvasa welcome Anchorage residents to the community vaccine clinic at Manai Fou Assembly of God Church in Airport Heights on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media) That’s not always easy. Many Islanders don’t speak English as a first language, and some Western medical terms don’t easily translate into Samoan. The word ‘immunity,’ for example, requires a sentence-long explanation.
Listen to Tanuvasa’s translation of the word ‘immunity’ But for Tanuvasa, all of the work has been worth it.
“I’m very, very happy with the outcome just sitting here this morning and watching people walk in to get their vaccination. It just warmed up my heart,” she said.
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