TALLAHASSEE A coalition of Black community leaders said Wednesday they will work to ensure that upward of 70 percent of the state’s minority population gets vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19.
“My friends, this is a sense of urgency. We feel that these vaccines are a gift of life. We know unfortunately, and sadly, that people of color are dying disproportionately,” R.B. Holmes, the pastor of Tallahassee’s Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, said during a meeting of the Florida Statewide COVID-19 Vaccine Community Engagement Task Force. “Many of us, all of us, have buried, ministered and comforted thousands of people who have died from the virus. This is one battle that we cannot sit out.”