According to a Feb. 8 press release, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced it is providing $66.5 million in American Rescue Plan funding to eight grantees to expand outreach efforts in 38 states and the District of Columbia to increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence and vaccinations.
The release states that “With the addition of today’s awards, HHS has provided a total of nearly $390 million to 158 organizations for the Community-based Workforce for COVID-19 Vaccine Program, supporting outreach, events, translation and other enabling services, education, and community health worker support in underserved areas in all 50 states. Many of today’s recipients are continuing to make progress in building vaccine confidence in diverse communities across the country. They are supporting trusted messengers through partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), churches, and local community-based organizations.”
Additionally, the recipients are engaging communities with access issues—including individuals with developmental and physical disabilities—by using mobile pop-up sites in the community and accessible vans to transport patients to vaccination appointments.
That said, “Examples of local partnerships and activities supported by the Community-based Workforce for COVID-19 Vaccine Program include:
- Deploying community outreach workers fluent in multiple spoken languages and American Sign Language;
- Organizing mobile vaccination clinics for farmworkers;
- Partnering with Black churches to build vaccine confidence; and
- Implementing culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach campaigns.”
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was quoted in the release saying that “Building vaccine confidence is critical to increasing vaccinations, which remains so important as we encourage boosters and kids’ vaccinations. This investment by the Biden-Harris Administration further expands our progress in partnering with trusted local messengers to deliver needed information on COVID-19 vaccines. This funding will help even more community-based organizations build confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine among people in their community who may not have been vaccinated yet.”
“The Public Health Institute (PHI) is currently working with Black, Native American, Latinx, Asian-American/Pacific-Islander, immigrant/migrant, and older adult populations with lower incomes in 200 counties as part of HRSA's $11 million award announced in June 2021,” the release adds. “PHI and its partners train vaccine ambassadors and Promotores de Salud (promotoras) to serve as trusted messengers and engage in community conversations, telephone outreach, and social media. Promotoras are Community Health Workers who engage community members, often in Spanish, to provide health-related outreach and education and connect patients to health resources in a linguistically and culturally appropriate way. PHI and COMMUNITIES RISE (RISE)—an alliance of partners connected to over 2,400 organizations across the nation—will use the new HRSA award to expand outreach to Black, Native American, Latinx, immigrant and migrant, low-income, older adult, and LGBTQ+ populations that are not yet vaccinated.”
