KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The number of COVID-19 cases is rising in Tennessee, and so a food pantry is working to fight both food insecurity and the coronavirus.
The Fish Hospitality Pantry hosted a vaccine clinic on Saturday, helping people get protected from COVID-19 while also making sure they could put a meal on the table. Isis Tafari arrived at the pantry expecting to just get a bag of food, but let with more than she expected.
Before she made it inside the pantry, she saw a new tent for New Directions Healthcare Solutions. There, healthcare professionals were signing people up for COVID-19 vaccines. Tafari stopped by and started talking to the people there.
For a while, she was not interested in the vaccine, but the volunteers at New Directions Healthcare Solutions provided her with information that ultimately changed her mind.
“My roommate got vaccinated; most of my family members got the vaccine, so I decided to go ahead and get one,” said Tafari. "I think I'm playing an excellent role in keeping it from spreading. I am protecting my family and my community."
Tafari said she did it to protect herself and others.
State health leaders said that Tennessee has seen an increase of more than 200% in COVID-19 cases since July 1. They said that the average number of new cases per day has stayed around 700 for the past week.
They almost all cases of severe illnesses from COVID-19 involve people who are unvaccinated and encouraged people to get a vaccine.
"We are committed to making sure lives are saved, that people are informed,” said Cynthia Finch, the founder of New Directions Healthcare Solutions.
The organization partners with the Knox County Health Department to vaccinate people in marginalized communities. She says it feels good to change the word "no" into "yes" when offering vaccines to people.
"I am overwhelmed when we move one person from a 'no,' to 'maybe,' to 'yes,'" she said.