Western Pa. barbers split over helping President Biden promote covid vaccines

If President Biden wants Greg Henderson to preach the gospel of getting a covid vaccine to his customers who come in for a haircut, he’s going to have to find another barber to deliver that sermon.

“I really don’t want to promote it. It’s kind of personal,” said Henderson, who owns Comrades barber shops in Greensburg and North Huntingdon.

Henderson said he is fully vaccinated but does not tell his customers — Black or white — whether to join him.

The White House wants to enlist as many as 1,000 barber shops and beauty salons where Blacks get their hair cut and styled to help spread the word to minority communities.

Race and ethnicity is known for just more than half (57%) of the 168.7 million people nationwide who have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

The breakdown of that group shows that 61% are white, with minority groups lagging far behind — 14% were Hispanic, 9% were Black, 8% were multiple or other race, 6% were Asian, 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and less than 1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

Biden wants 70% of the U.S. population older than 12 to be vaccinated by July 4 in order to enjoy a “summer of freedom.”

Henderson said Wednesday that he had yet to hear details about what the Biden administration wants him and other barbers to do about getting more people to get a covid vaccine.

He said some customers over the past few months have talked about getting their shots, while others have explained why they have refrained. There are a lot of different reasons why people have said they don’t want to get the vaccine, Henderson said.

“There’s a different history with them,” Henderson said.

At Bat’s Barbershop in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, owner Kevin Andrews said his customer base is split on taking a vaccine.

“It’s about half and half,” said Andrews, who has owned the shop for 18 years.

Andrews, who is vaccinated, said he would be willing to promote the need for people to get vaccinated to be safe and keep others safe.

As for those who don’t want to get the vaccine, Andrews observed that they often are the same customers who are in the barber shop complaining about wearing a mask.

The White House also can count on Sam Sunder to spread the word at his Jeannette barbershop that people need to get vaccinated.

“Anybody who comes in here, I talk to them about it,” said Sunder, who counts Blacks and whites as his customer base at Sam’s Barber Shop at the corner of Bullitt Avenue and South 3rd Street. “I’m trying to talk them into it.”

Sunder said he has a simple philosophy about vaccines: “The sooner everyone gets them, the sooner this (covid) goes away.”