Pride as Wolverhampton places of worship become pop-up vaccine centres
Two places of worship have welcomed people for Covid vaccinations as part of a community partnership.
The Guru Teg Bahadur Gurdwara and Sri Krishna Mandhir Hindu Temple in Wolverhampton both welcomed people from across the city to get their vaccinations as part of the Community Champions Vaccine Pop-ups.
The pop-up vaccination centres at the two venues were set up by a partnership between Interfaith Wolverhampton, Community Champions, Wolverhampton Learning Communities, Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Wolverhampton Council.
Blakenhall Councillor Jas Dehar, chair of Interfaith Wolverhampton, said she had picked the two venues for the pop ups on Monday, March 22 and Tuesday, March 23 due to their location in the city.
She said: "The Guru Teg Bahadur Gurdwara is in my ward and is at the centre of the biggest Sikh communities and such a diverse area.
"I also picked the Sri Krishna Mandir as I wanted different places of worship and wanted everyone to have the same opportunities.
"The mission behind this is to get as many people vaccinated as we can and overcome the language and cultural barriers which can come up, so we've had our team out and speaking to the wider community about this.
"I feel honoured that Interfaith Wolverhampton are involved in this and it's great to see so many different faces involved in putting this all together."
More than 100 people visited the two venues to receive their vaccination jabs, with a number of community champions on hand to direct people and answer questions about the vaccine.
Surjit Singh Uppal, chair of Guru Teg Bahadur Gurdwara, received his first jab and the 81-year-old said he felt the Gurdwara being at the heart of the community made it a great venue for the clinic.
He said: "I think people have come and seen the Gurdwara and feel fantastic about being here as we are in the heart of the community and we can offer so much to people who need it.
"I feel strongly that we can offer much more than just one day as a vaccination clinic and I have said to the council that we can easily accommodate for five days a week.
"I do feel proud that we have hosted this today and we didn't know how many people would come, but we've ended up having to restock the injections due to demand, so it's been a fantastic day."
Satyapal Sharma, chair of Sri Krishna Mandir, said hosting the pop-up clinic was a great honour for a community venue.
He said: "I do feel a sense of pride at being part of this as we have requested to do more in the past and we are finally helping people with such an important programme.
"I believe our temple is a good location because of where it is, near the city centre, the size of the car park and the easy access to the temple.
"Also, by providing this service, we are helping to provide an extra awareness in our community that they should come forward and get the vaccination."
