'Who Can Help Me Serve The People': Local Comedian Takes On Vaccine Equity With Grassroots Effort
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Local activist and comedian Angelina Spicer danced down the aisle of a rented tour bus Friday afternoon.
"We got our shots," she said. "We got our shots!"
Nurses from Kedren Community Health Center in South Los Angeles had just finished vaccinating the dozens of people on board as they sat in their seats, including 90-year-old Claudia Harper.
"I saw all those people coming in, standing in line," she said. "I wouldn't have been able to make it, at 90 years old. I couldn't stand in those lines, so this is really great for me."
Harper said she tried to get an appointment to get vaccinated, but was unsuccessful in her attempts.
That's where Spicer stepped in.
"I saw that there were a lot of vaccine chasers at the neighborhood hospital, and I thought to myself, 'You know, I know tons of people in the neighborhood, in the community who want access to the vaccine but can't get an appointment.'"
So Spicer got to work using her connections to raise money to rent buses to shuttle people to Kedren.
"I cold-called churches," she said. "I cold-called the Garment Workers Association, and I said, 'Who can help me serve the people?'"
Friday's event was her second in two weeks.
"We pick folks up from home, making sure that folks have masks, that they have food, that they have water and that they have a ride to Kedren to get the vaccine," she said.
Spicer said she was also working to remove the barriers of fear and mistrust.
"I knew that people in my community are really skeptical of getting vaccines, so I wanted to make sure that they knew that it was coming from a trusted source, someone who had good intentions," she said.
Stephanie Hazzard, a therapist who has not been able to get an appointment, said she was one of those who wasn't sure if she wanted a vaccine at first.
"There is a stigma around it, and I think that based upon past traumas that African Americans and people of color have gone through, there is this pause of not wanting to get the vaccine," she said.
But when the time came, Hazzard got her shot.
"I feel good," she said. "That was easy. It didn't hurt!"
So far, Spicer had help get 150 people vaccinated and has two more bus trips planned with hopes of getting at least another 100 people vaccinated.
