Black churches fill a unique role in combating vaccine fears In the hospital with covid-19 in December, Lavina Wafer tired of the tubes in her nose and wondered impatiently why she couldn't be discharged. A phone call with her pastor helped her understand that the tube was piping in lifesaving oxygen, which had to be slowly tapered to protect her. Now that Wafer, 70, is well and back home in Richmond, California, she's looking to her pastor for advice about the covid vaccines. Though she doubts they're as wonderful as the government claims, she plans to get vaccinated anyway — because of his example.