One yeshivah speeds ahead in Chicago's vaccine drive
Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, the director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of Illinois, told Mishpacha that the “overwhelming majority” of the Windy City’s elderly and teachers received their shot of life at a makeshift clinic hurriedly set up at the gym of a local yeshivah.
The clinic, Rabbi Soroka said, was the first such concept in the nation — a health center set up specifically for the purpose of delivering vaccines. It relies on an all-volunteer base of 600 people and counting, and builds on a local yeshivah’s successful efforts years ago to become accredited as a medical clinic. Already, the Central Hatzolah based in New York has inquired about replicating the program, and other Agudah groups are contemplating setting up the model in their cities.
“It’s the only one of its kind in the country, to my knowledge, a community organization that became more than just a one-day clinic,” Rabbi Soroka said. “There’s a number of advantages to being a community-based organization, such as getting the word out and making it easy in a culturally sensitive way.”
When the White House reached out to Agudah’s DC director, Rabbi Abba Cohen, about vaccination efforts in the Orthodox community, he pointed to Chicago as the gold standard.
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