Jeffery
Miami, FL
Jeffery Burney is combating fear with science in his quest to get his community vaccinated for COVID-19.
Jeffery Burney was a man on a mission – to see his grandchildren in Arizona.
But first, he needed to get his COVID-19 vaccine. After his unsuccessful attempts to book a vaccine appointment at local drug and grocery stores, he was excited to learn Miami-Dade County had opened a site at the Overtown Community Center near his home.
His jubilation was short-lived. Because he was just three weeks shy of 65, the age required at the time, they turned him away.
“There was no one else there and they still wouldn’t help me,” Jeffery says. “To have my bubble burst like that, I felt like I didn’t even want it anymore.”
Thankfully, he changed his mind and got a vaccine a few days later at a federally-supported mass vaccination site set up by FEMA, at Miami-Dade College North Campus. Not only was he able to get a Johnson and Johnson one-time vaccine, but his 62-year-old friend who came with him, also got vaccinated. Jeffery vowed to tell all his friends and family members.That week thousands of people, of all ages - front-line workers, those with underlying conditions at high risk of complications, residents worried about their health and fearful of exposing family members - all showed up and got their shots. For a few days, anyway, some waiting in their cars overnight to be first in line.
Then Florida, once again, clamped down on eligibility, limiting vaccines for those 65 and up only and requiring a special state form signed by a doctor for those with comorbidities. The impact? By week's end, traffic had winnowed to a trickle, no lines, and thousands of leftover vaccine shots statewide.“When you have 500,000 people who are not with us anymore, it’s clearly not a hoax,” he says. “These are people who we can only look at in pictures now.
We can’t look them in the eye. We can’t hug them.”
But Jeffery is still on the case to get everyone he knows to get vaccinated whenever it’s their turn.
“We have a pandemic. We have a serious situation,” he says. “We have to work together to combat it.”
Jeffery says there’s a lot of misinformation and fear in the Black community that he’s willing to tackle head on, with science and his own enthusiasm.
For Jeffery, it’s personal. Relatives in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, have all gotten COVID because they didn’t wear masks, or thought it was a hoax, he says. His best friend’s mother died after contracting the virus.
“When you have 500,000 people who are not with us anymore, it’s clearly not a hoax,” he says. “These are people who we can only look at in pictures now. We can’t look them in the eye. We can’t hug them.“
He talks friends through the process, on their level, breaking it down. And, when they ask him if they should get vaccinated: “Before they can even get the words out, I say, “Hell yeah.”
The Florida Health Justice Project, a nonprofit organization, recognizes that access to quality and affordable health care is a human right and engages in comprehensive advocacy to expand health care access and promote health equity for vulnerable Floridians.
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