{"id":129945,"date":"2026-01-20T04:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129945\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:33:09","slug":"free-health-fair-connected-san-antonio-community-to-services-during-mlk-march-and-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129945\/","title":{"rendered":"Free health fair connected San Antonio community to services during MLK March and Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Held in conjunction with the MLK March<\/a>, San Antonio\u2019s MLK Commission health fair connected public health services directly to the community on Monday at the Davis-Scott YMCA.<\/p>\n

Metro Health and UT Health San Antonio partnered with the commission to provide free flu and COVID-19 vaccines, including the high-dose versions for adults 65 and older. In addition, Metro Health also offered free STI tests and information on available resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want to make sure that our services are available where the people are at,\u201d said Miguel Cervantes, Metro Health\u2019s interim assistant director of the Communicable Disease Division.<\/p>\n

Cervantes said having a physical presence during MLK observances and other major events removes barriers, such as waiting for appointments or not knowing where to turn for services or to have questions answered.<\/p>\n

>> \u2018We\u2019re all united\u2019: Sights and sounds from San Antonio\u2019s 39th annual MLK March<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe always partner with large events because we want to make sure that the community is aware of the different services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From the number of parents who entered the YMCA gym, that message was well received. <\/p>\n

They came in and chose from free vaccines, including child versions of the flu and COVID-19 vaccines, pediatric shots for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), plus more.<\/p>\n

Metro Health also provided on-hand hepatitis and meningitis vaccines.<\/p>\n

Representatives from Beat AIDS, Health Confianza, Care Access, and SA Kids B.R.E.A.T.H.E. also partnered with the MLK Commission to make their respective services known and to provide information that may be needed.<\/p>\n

>> \ud83d\udcf8 PHOTOS 39th Annual MLK March in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n

Shelly Smith, a teacher, took advantage of the free vaccines and the convenience of having multiple services in one place so she could stay in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all centrally located, so one-stop shopping,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI love my job, and I want to keep working every day, and any time I\u2019m off work, I miss them. So I just decided to go ahead and get the vaccine for everything I could today so that I could do my best job for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cervantes said the free health fair removes another major barrier for many without insurance: cost.<\/p>\n

He added that offering services on MLK Day honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by strengthening community wellness and providing knowledge to empower people to make informed decisions that affect their lives and their families.<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Held in conjunction with the MLK March, San Antonio\u2019s MLK Commission health fair connected public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[584,6824,51462,55698,82,84,83,17975],"class_list":["post-129945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-health","tag-metro-health","tag-mlk","tag-mlk-commission","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-ut-health-san-antonio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}