First Lady Jill Biden promotes booster shots at a Nashville church, as county’s vaccine rates lag

First Lady Jill Biden dropped in on a COVID vaccination event at a church in North Nashville on Wednesday with a pretty simple message.

“Come get your vaccine, your update,” she said to cameras in the gym of St. James Missionary Baptist Church, noting that the shots are now available to anyone 5 and up.

Jill Biden was in town to meet with the Democratic National Committee. The church, led by Pastor George Brooks, has hosted pop-up vaccination events for more than a year, almost on a monthly basis.

Freeda Holt is a member at St. James and came with her kids to shake the First Lady’s hand and so all of them could get their next booster.

“I just believe this is the way of life now,” she said. “So that’s what we’re going to do.”

She said she trusts her pastor, and he has advocated for the vaccine from the very beginning as a way to save lives. Even now, Pastor Brooks gives regular COVID updates from the pulpit and reminds people of vaccination opportunities.

“I don’t look at it as pushing it on anyone,” Brooks said. “It’s stating the facts and leaving it up to them how they deal with the facts.”

The latest booster has been widely available for about a month. So far, there hasn’t been a big rush for it, even though it’s supposed to better protect against newer variants like omicron. So far, roughly 36,000 in Davidson County have gotten the bivalent booster, according to city data, which is about 7% of the 495,000 residents who’ve gotten any COVID shots at all.

Statewide, Tennessee is not yet publishing figures specifically for the bivalent booster.