SAN ANTONIO – Black-owned salons and barbershops are being invited to take part in the “Shots at the Shop” initiative that is part of an all-out vaccination effort during June, the National Month of Action designated by the White House.
Salons and shops that want to participate are urged to register on the Shots at the Shop website, where they can find the criteria by which 1,000 shops will be selected to receive $1,000 stipends for participating.
Deadline for applications is June 11. Those selected will be notified by email before June 21, after which they can expect to receive the stipends.
A four-hour virtual training session will be offered to those selected by the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity.
President Joe Biden had set a goal of getting 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4th in order to give people more of a sense of freedom from the pandemic.
“Anything I can do for this community, I am going to do it,” said Sam Ward, owner of Sam’s Barbershop on East Commerce.
The “Shots at the Shop” initiative would provide videos and educational materials to display, and host vaccination clinics on-site.
A spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity said the initiative also has a network of health providers that could help them set up those vaccination clinics.
Dr. Junda Woo, medical director at the Metropolitan Health District, said what the White House has acknowledged, “We recognize the importance of barbershops and beauty salons to the African American community” and that Metro Health “would definitely look into this.”
Metro Health has been setting up more pop-up vaccination clinics throughout the community.
Wallace Bee, one of the longtime customers at Sam’s Barbershop, said if that were to happen, “It makes the vaccine available to people who can’t move around a lot.”
“They come to the barbershop on a regular basis,” Ward said. “I’d be glad to say, ‘Hey, you can get it here, right here at the shop.”
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