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'We trust God in all things that we do': Detroit pastors encourage hundreds to take COVID-19 vaccine

By and Amber Ainsworth
Published  August 25, 2021 6:19pm EDT
Coronavirus Vaccine
FOX 2 Detroit

300 hesitant people receive COVID vaccine thanks to encouragement from pastors

Detroit pastors have been urging their congregation members to get vaccinated.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Like many people, Desiree Peoples was hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Sometimes you get caught up in the rhetoric just like anybody else, these people, maybe, you have these thoughts, maybe they're paid to say this," she said. "Or you're not even sure if they actually took the shot for themselves or they're just saying this."

In the spring, Peoples wouldn't have even considered getting vaccinated.

"I wasn’t sure how it was going to coincide with my body, was I going to have a reaction? Was some of the things I was seeing on my social media going to be true? I wasn’t sure what was in the vaccination.  But one thing I am always sure about is the love of God has for me," she said.

Related: Pastor helps sisters hesitant about vaccine to see past conspiracies

Her church pastor who also was once hesitant at one point encouraged her to get the vaccine.

"I saw my pastor pushing and forcing, saying, ‘Hey, this is good, and we trust God in all things that we do, and why not with the vaccinations?’ I’m young, I don’t want to pass away. I have a lot of elements already against me why add COVID to it?" Peoples said.

Peoples said she went to church and prayed about the shot.

"My pastor started preaching about it and they started offering it at the church and you’re scared, what better way than the church? If you don’t even trust anybody, you should always trust God. So I trusted that and I came in and took the shot and I’m perfectly fine," she said.

A campaign has 50 pastors calling on people to get vaccinated. So far, 300 people who were hesitant have gotten the shot.

"Make a choice and go beyond just researching something to death because all these people talking about, ‘I wanna research,’ it seems like they have more evidence than the scientist," said Pastor Steve Bland of Liberty Temple Baptist Church. "At some point, you have to take a step out and believe."

The campaign is being extended, Bland said.