The Biden administration will allocate 1 million COVID-19 vaccines to community health centers across the country in an effort to vaccinate the most affected and hard-to-reach populations. At a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Jeff Zients, COVID-19’s response coordinator, said the new program will be launched next week with federally qualified health centers.
“Community health centers offer primary care services in underserved areas, reaching almost 30 million people,” said Zients. “With this new program, we will begin sending vaccine supplies directly to community health centers, allowing them to vaccinate the people they serve.”
Zients said the centers are a key part of the federal government’s strategy for an inclusive response. He later vehemently rejected the idea that vaccine equity would undermine efficiency, saying, in part, “efficiency and equity are central to what we’re doing and I don’t see any payoff between the two.”
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Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, chairman of the Health Equity Task Force COVID-19, said the program will involve a phased start and will increase over time. She said a subset of the centers could start ordering vaccines as early as next week.
Centers serving more than 2,000 patients aged 65 and over, with large populations and the ability to cope with increased vaccine and staff storage capacity were targets in the program’s initial development. This involves a mixture of urban and rural centers.
“Ultimately, at this early stage in the program, we plan to reach 250 community health centers,” she added, noting that there are more than 1,300 centers in the United States, with two-thirds of patients below the federal poverty line and 60% of patients identified as racial or ethnic minorities.
Of the distribution of 1 million doses, half of the doses will be designated as first doses, and the other 500,000 will be as second doses, said Nunez-Smith. Through the program, the Biden government is trying to reach homeless populations, agricultural workers and migrants, residents of public housing and those with limited English proficiency.
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In the initial phase of the program, there will be a community health post inserted in each state and territory. As vaccine supply increases, vaccines will be available to all 1,400 centers if they decide to participate, said Nunez-Smith. The program announced on Tuesday joins other efforts, such as mobile clinics and the federal pharmacy program.