WASHINGTON – The White House announced on Thursday that it will direct $ 10 billion, largely from the recently enacted American Rescue Plan, to expand access to vaccination for low-income, rural and minority communities that have been hardest hit by pandemic.
Much of the money, $ 6 billion, will go next month to 1,400 federally funded community health centers that care for patients at high risk of coronavirus infection and death.
The funds can be used to increase vaccinations, tests and treatments for these patients, as well as improve general preventive care, by improving the physical infrastructure and adding mobile units, according to the White House.
Another $ 3 billion, half of which comes from the Covid-19 aid package, will go to education and outreach programs by local health departments and community-based organizations to increase access to vaccination and acceptance in high-risk communities, he said. the White House. The money will go directly to states and major cities for distribution.
The administration has been struggling to accelerate the pace of vaccinations as new variants of the virus emerge and the number of new cases appears to have increased slightly in the past few days.
The United States has administered about 2.5 million vaccines a day, and President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new target for the pace of vaccinations during his presidency’s first press conference on Thursday.
His government has already reached its initial goal of 100 million kicks in the first 100 days, just over a month before the deadline he imposed. Although Biden said there would be enough vaccine supplies for all Americans by the end of May, he did not say how long it would take to put these vaccines in the arms.
Funding efforts remain the Biden government’s focus on increasing vaccinations among the groups most affected by the coronavirus, including blacks and Latinos, who are twice as likely to die from Covid-19 compared to whites.
According to the White House, people of color received 60% of doses administered at vaccination sites administered by the federal government, and 65% of doses allocated to community health centers were for people of color. Still, blacks and Latinos across the country received smaller portions of vaccines compared to their share of the population, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
As part of the $ 6 billion for community health centers, the government is asking that doses be made available to all essential frontline workers and anyone over 16 with high-risk medical conditions, which would include 83 % of adults served by the centers.
The administration targets $ 3 billion for vaccine outreach to a variety of groups, including religious organizations, nonprofit food and housing assistance organizations, and bilingual community health organizations, to address issues ranging from health needs. transportation to door-to-door education and scheduling appointments.
It will also direct $ 300 million to the services of community health workers to address disparities in access to other coronavirus-related services, such as testing and contact tracking, as well as broader health issues that increase the risk of complications from Covid- 19, such as chronic diseases, pregnancy and food insecurity.
Separately, the government plans to direct $ 100 million from the American Rescue Plan to support the Medical Reserve Corps – the largest investment ever made in a fully voluntary army of doctors, nurses and medical support teams that are seen as the key to accelerating Covid-19 vaccines, said two government officials.
