Reaching 14.5 Million People with Vaccine Equity Information

In 2021, as vaccines became available for COVID-19, PHI worked quickly with local organizations in Los Angeles to make sure those at highest risk could access them. 

Community members faced real barriers to vaccinations, including transportation concerns, lack of internet access, cultural and linguistic needs, misinformation about the vaccine and the side-effects, and fear of deportation and/or mistreatment by immigration authorities.

In one month PHI distributed more than $14.7 million to forty trusted, local organizations to support their vaccine outreach and equity work and save lives.

Local organizations provided community health workers, vaccine registration and mobile vaccination clinics, and home health care support. All the organizations provided information and support in languages other than English, including (among others) Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Korean. They relied on trusted messengers: training residents who were already known as trusted voices in their community; partnering with well-known community leaders;  and working with local small business leaders who served as vaccine ambassadors and shared information with their patrons and community members.

From May through December 2021, local organizations trained 1,565 staff in vaccine administration, data reporting, vaccine registration and other topics, and also hired 424 new staff to support more than 395 vaccine providers and 1,205 mobile clinics. In all, they reached 14,580,338 people with COVID-19 vaccine outreach and provided at least one vaccine dose to 338,220 people. Among the partner organizations, 84% noted the primary groups they served were people who were low-income, immigrants without residency documents, and people without health insurance. 

In addition to providing COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, in partnership with hundreds of other area organizations and county health officials, the local organizations helped residents apply for health care coverage, CalFresh benefits, economic injury disaster loans, unemployment applications, small business relief grants, and more. Some specific projects included:

• One organization partnered with the LA Mayor’s office and had support from community health workers to provide COVID-19 testing and vaccinations as well as other supports. 
• An organization hosted COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites while ensuring wrap-around service support from other organizations. 
• A successful collaboration between LA County Public Health, paratransit providers, Lyft and local organizations worked to ensure vaccine equity for people with disabilities, by developing transportation solutions and implementing ADA accessibility standards at testing and vaccination sites.

See more about the WeVax+ program.