SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) – Organizers in San Jose held a second homeless vaccination clinic Friday at City Hall.

The hope was that the 500 people who received their first doses in April would return for their second. In the end, they were pleasantly surprised with the result.

In the days leading up to the clinic, advocates, many of whom were homeless, surveyed encampments around the city, citing the merits of the COVID vaccine.

“I tell them if you don’t get it, it will never stop. And you can grab it and give it to someone else who might die in the end. Plus, if you come to the town event, there is always more for you, ”said volunteer Zack Anderson.

Extras, like meal and hygiene kits, help getting into shelters, and even help signing up for stimulus checks.

“We know that the vaccine is a way for us to move towards recovery, but I think the other component is to ensure that we uplift our communities, especially the most vulnerable,” said Anh Tran, director. of the San Jose Immunization Task Force.

What the organizers did not expect was that they would have to attract the same people twice.

Their previous clinic in April coincided with a Johnson & Johnson vaccine freeze. This meant a quick pivot to Moderna and the need for a second shot.

“So the challenge is getting people to go to the roundhouse for their first dose and then come back today for their second dose,” Tran said.

The lawyers knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“People are just really busy trying to survive. So they can’t remember, ‘Oh, today is my date to get my second injection. “So it’s important that you have advocates and other homeless people to remind them,” said Shaunn Cartwright of the Unhoused Response Group.

Melvin, who is currently homeless, said he got the message loud and clear.

“I learned about it from my friends. They told me about it and about flyers as well,” he said.

And so he arrived, happy to be vaccinated.

In fact, at the end of the day, the majority of people who were supposed to show up did.

Lawyers said the second shot was less convincing than the first.

“A lot of people I squatted with when I was homeless came for their first shot and now it’s a lot easier to get them back for their second shot,” Anderson said. “So what I did was I distributed the leaflets in the same area and went to the same camps that I went for the first shot and brought people back for the second. shoot.”

Advocates say their hard work has paid off. Organizers had distributed 540 shots in April. On Friday, they administered 510, and all but 32 were second doses.

The city hosts another clinic at the Tully Library on Sunday.