IRVINGTON, NJ — According to Hugea Newman, a barber shop owner in Irvington, many people who come into his business looking for a cut are still afraid of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

But it’s changing, he adds, including at his own shop, where he and his workers have all gotten their shots.

Newman, the owner of N & N Unisex Hair Salon on Chancellor Avenue, was among the people on hand for a roundtable discussion on coronavirus vaccines among the Black community on Friday.

The event – which also included a pop-up vaccine site outside the shop – was attended by Gov. Phil Murphy, Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss and New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges.

The talk focused on ways to combat misinformation about the vaccine, and a “distrust in government” that’s causing so many people to avoid getting a shot, according to a report from Karen Yi of WNYC.

Murphy said it was important for people to know the vaccine is free and effective, and barber shops are one way to spread the word.

“People don’t trust government enough to give government their information or believe that government is doing what they say they’re doing,” Vauss said. “That’s one of the things in our community that we struggle with.”

In Irvington – where 86 percent of the town’s 54,312 residents are Black and 10 percent are Hispanic or Latino – only 33 percent of people 18 and older have gotten a full course of vaccine as of Friday, according to the state department of health.

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