Senior citizens in the city of Camden received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday. But county officials say that they are looking at ways to make the vaccine more accessible to the hardest hit community in the county.

“I only went food shopping, that was it. Everything else, I stay in my apartment all the time,” says Delois Gordon.

Gordon spent most of the last 10 months isolated. But she says that with the vaccine, a new chapter of her life begins. She was one of 30 seniors vaccinated at the First Nazarene Baptist Church in Camden.

“We’re here today to really give the message that it’s safe, it’s needed and that we need people to come out and make sure they’re vaccinated,” says Camden County Commissioner Jonathan Young. “This city has been hit the hardest in Camden County.”

Accessibility to a vaccine center is a major concern for seniors in Camden. The county’s main vaccination cite is miles away in Blackwood.

“A lot of us don’t have cars and travel and stuff like that. So, we’re blessed that they did come to Camden,” Gordon says.

County officials say that they are working to improve the accessibility.

“Camden County is going to look into opening a vaccine site at the Kroc Center in the next few weeks. We’re going to try to do anywhere between 200-500 people a day in the city of Camden,” says Young.

Officials are also saying that they hope that city residents will show up and trust the vaccine.

“I think there is some reservation in regards to it, but I think as we promote it more and folks are educated on it, then they will become more comfortable with it,” says First Nazarene Baptist Church senior pastor Rev. Dyheim Watson.

City resident Vivian Wilson says that she trusts the vaccine and is looking forward to being a grandmother again.

“My grandchildren, they miss me and say, ‘When can we come, Grandma?'” Wilson says.

The pop-up vaccine clinic was a joint effort between the city, county, Project Hope and Coopers Ferry Partnership.