May 19, 2021 - Health

Scoop: Community health centers surpass 10 million COVID vaccines

Tina Reed

Medical worker Robert Gilbertson loads a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be administered a vaccination site in South Central Los Angeles on Feb. 16. Photo: Apu Gomes-AFP/Getty Images

Federally funded community health centers have now administered more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccines, the Biden administration is set to announce on Wednesday.

More than 60% of them went to racial and ethnic minorities.

Why it matters: Vaccine equity has been an ongoing concern since the shots first received emergency approval. This is one sign that efforts to reach racial and ethnic minorities are working.

Details: HHS pointed to the Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, a collaboration between the Health Resources and Services Administration and the CDC, with accelerating the distribution of shots.

Starting Feb. 9, the collaboration began providing a direct allocation of COVID vaccines to a cohort of 25 health centers in addition to vaccines the centers received through their states.
The program later expanded to include 1,470 centers including all HRSA Health Center Program-funded health centers and Health Center Program look-alikes.

What they're saying: "We made it very clear the implementation of the rollout of the vaccinations had to have equity as a primary consideration. And that’s actually what’s happening," Anthony Fauci said at an Axios event.

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Scoop: Community health centers surpass 10 million COVID vaccines

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