Covid-19 Vaccine Efforts Get a Boost From Black Communities’ Pastors

BOSTON—The block-lettered sign outside Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist deems it “the church where miracles happen!”

But inside, from his sun-splashed pulpit, the Rev. Miniard Culpepper makes clear it will take both faith and science to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This new strain, Lord have mercy,” he preached one recent Sunday to the small, socially distanced congregation and some 200 worshipers watching remotely. “Pray that even with this new strain, that as folks get vaccinated—and we pray that folks do get vaccinated—that we’ll see the numbers come down.”

Mr. Culpepper and other Black clergy have comforted their flocks during the pandemic, as Black and Latino people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus at more than twice the rate of white residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, many of the pastors are emerging as local influencers in the country’s sprawling vaccination ground game. Their biggest hurdle is often building confidence in the vaccine in their communities.

One-third of Black adults say they plan to avoid the Covid-19 shots, compared with about one-fifth of Hispanic and white adults who don’t plan to get vaccinated, according to recent survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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