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City faith leaders feel ignored when it comes to COVID testing, vaccine rollout

Posted at 5:45 PM, Feb 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-23 17:45:14-05

BALTIMORE — Religious institutions around the city say their voices aren't being heard when it comes to COVID testing and vaccine rollout.

Now, they're calling on Mayor Brandon Scott to do something about it.

Outside city hall on Tuesday, several reverends, bishops and pastors came out to push for change.
They're all a part of Act Now Baltimore, a faith-based group to hold our political leaders accountable.

They say there aren't enough testing or vaccination sites in the city for people of color. Now, they're organizing to get their members' voices heard.

"If you think about it, each council district is approximately 43,000 people. We want everybody in the council member's districts to be heard. A person gets elected, they may get elected with about 5,000 votes. But there are still another 38,000 people that need to be heard. So we're going to conduct listening sessions, we will have town hall meetings, we're going to have conversations with the residents in our communities, we're going to send video cameras to that they can be on camera themselves, the people can talk for themselves when they have the opportunity," said Bishop JL Carter.

They say they're doing this because they've tried to speak with Governor Larry Hogan and with Mayor Scott, without success.