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We are building a vaccine corps for medical and nursing students – this can transform efforts to vaccinate underserved areas
Medical students’ backgrounds often reflect the diversity of local communities, which may allow them more access and confidence in vaccination efforts. Bryan Goodchild / UMass Medical School, CC BY-NDThe USA faces one of the most important public health campaigns in history at the moment: vaccinating the population against COVID-19 and, especially, carrying vaccines in the arms of people who cannot navigate easily being vaccinated on its own. Time is essential. As potentially more dangerous new variants of this coronavirus spread to new regions, widespread vaccination is one of the most powerful and effective ways to slow, if not stop, the spread of the virus. Mobilizing a large “vaccine corps” can help meet this urgent need. We are testing this concept now at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, where I am the dean. So far, 500 of our students and hundreds of community members have volunteered for roles in the vaccine corps. Our undergraduate students in nursing and medicine, under the direction of local public health leaders, have already vaccinated first responders and vulnerable populations, demonstrating that a vaccine corps can be a force multiplier for public health departments with few resources. On February 16, we will help launch a large-scale vaccination site in Worcester, where up to 2,000 people can be vaccinated each day. It is important to note that a large vaccination corps that includes local medical and public health students can help reach residents who may be lost through public campaigns and hospital extension efforts. Students generally represent the races, ethnicities and backgrounds of their region, which can make it easier for them to connect with communities that are difficult to reach and may not trust vaccination. What a vaccination body looks like The problem of vaccinating people quickly is not just about supply – it’s also about having enough people to carry out vaccination, especially in communities that are difficult to access. If rapidly deployed on a large scale, a vaccine corps could face three major challenges directly: accelerating the national launch of COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring that doses are distributed equally to everyone and delivering on the promise that all Americans can benefit from medical and public health advances. Medical students practice vaccination methods at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. Bryan Goodchild / UMass Medical School, CC BY-ND Medical, nursing, pharmacy and other health students, as well as retired or unemployed doctors, could administer injections, monitor people who had just been vaccinated or schedule the second doses needed for Pfizer and Modern vaccines to be fully effective. Reaching underserved communities – including your own. In particular, a large, well-organized vaccine corps can play a crucial role in reaching underserved, neglected or difficult-to-reach communities. Body members could join telephone banks to help people who have no Internet or have difficulty using online scheduling systems to find vaccines in their area and make appointments. Our students from the vaccine corps have already helped administer vaccines in public housing estates and shelters for homeless and domestic violence residents. They can also provide transport to vaccination sites or take doses directly to the elderly who cannot safely venture out. In Alaska, for example, vaccine providers have traveled by plane and sled to remote villages to reach thousands of residents. Members of a vaccination corps who share race or ethnicity with the community can also have an impact in overcoming people’s concerns about getting the vaccine. This is important. A survey released on February 10, conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that only 57% of black residents in the U.S. said they would definitely or likely receive the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 65% of Americans that they identified as Hispanic and 68% as white. Less than half of black Americans interviewed in a separate survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation in late January believed that black needs were being taken into account. At the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, 500 students volunteered to participate in a vaccination corps. His first project was to vaccinate the first respondents. Bryan Goodchild / UMass Medical School, CC BY-ND Rural areas face similar concerns, as well as the geographical challenges of reaching people in remote areas. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that people living in rural areas are “among the groups that most hesitate to vaccinate”. In mid-January, he found that 29% of rural Americans surveyed definitely did not want to receive the vaccine or said they would only get it if necessary. If we extrapolate the results of the vaccine hesitation survey, suggesting that up to three or four out of 10 Americans can avoid inoculation, public health officials’ hopes of achieving collective immunity will be at risk. The potential for expansion The United States has a long history of creating bodies of health. After the September 11 attacks, the federal government launched the voluntary Medical Reserve Corps to mobilize current and former medical professionals and others with necessary health skills during emergencies. Several units of the Medical Reserve Corps across the country are now assisting with vaccination efforts. This concept could be expanded, including through partnerships with universities, to have a broader and more innovative reach. The service model that our students are testing opens up many possibilities, limited only by a lack of will and imagination. [You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversation’s newsletter.]This article was republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Michael F. Collins, University of Massachusetts Medical School. Read more: How can I get the COVID-19 vaccine? Here’s what you need to know and what state strategies are working. Obtaining COVID-19 vaccines for rural Americans is more difficult than it looks – but there are ways to remove barriers for which Michael F. Collins does not work, consult, own shares or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article and did not disclose relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.