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Indy church’s free COVID-19 testing, vaccinations see high demand

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — “In this community, we had plenty of people who showed up” for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations on Saturday, said Kimberly Walker, the health and wellness coordinator at Phillips Temple CME Church.

On Saturday, drivers lined up for free testing and vaccinations at the church on East 34th Street between North Meridian Street and Central Avenue. Walker says more than 200 people showed up for testing; they’d only planned for 100.

“We had no idea the amount of people who were going to come, so we had to deal with the logistics of the traffic because we had backed-up traffic and everything, which was a good thing on one hand because we saw the need,” Walker said.

During a statewide briefing Friday, Dr. Kristina Box, commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health, said more people are showing up to testing sites and creating some problems.

“Unfortunately, due to the high volume of people seeking testing, traffic is overwhelming some of the locations that have agreed to host us. Some have requested that we find a different site to ease the congestion,” Box said.

Walker said, “People are really interested in knowing more about COVID, and the fact that we’re having COVID testing as well as vaccination it gives them an array of things to do.”

Phillips Temple CME Church received $10,000 from the Marion County Public Health Department’s COVID-19 Community Recovery grant program. The program was designed to address racial inequities in COVID-19 response and recovery.

Some people at the event said getting tested is necessary. Larod Mickens, an Indianapolis resident, said, “I mean just keep your loved ones, your coworkers, your family safe, and just knowing the status of it because with this new variant it’s kind of hard, and kids are coming down with it at school, so you want to make sure you protect your family, your kids and everyone around you.”

Walker said, “We’re just talking about health and wellness and so if we don’t have a situation like this where we can provide the testing then how can we expect people to get tested.”

Phillips Temple CME Church will hosting another event with more free testing and vaccinations from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 18. They’re offering the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.