The medical community pushed that hard. I've personally sat in on strategy sessions for community outreach that specifically discussed talking to religious leaders and using them because of the trust they have within their churches. It was seen and shown to be a highly effective way of overcoming vaccine hesitancy. People won't trust the guy in the white coat, but if they have a team of nurses go to your church and set up a clinic to vaccinate people right there after services on a Sunday, people were willing to do it.
The medical community pushed that hard. I've personally sat in on strategy sessions for community outreach that specifically discussed talking to religious leaders and using them because of the trust they have within their churches. It was seen and shown to be a highly effective way of overcoming vaccine hesitancy. People won't trust the guy in the white coat, but if they have a team of nurses go to your church and set up a clinic to vaccinate people right there after services on a Sunday, people were willing to do it.