Community outreach drives COVID-19 vaccine administration success
By now it’s clear the goal of administering COVID-19 immunizations to 300+ million Americans has spiraled into a complex, multidimensional challenge that stretches across every government level, from federal institutions to state and local public health organizations.
Even after shipping and properly storing fragile vaccines, state and local public health agencies must work to mitigate additional risks, which include overcoming misinformation and vaccine hesitancy. At the same time, people eligible for vaccinations should register ahead of time, by phone or online, rather than venturing out to stand in line, waiting for a vaccine. This is important to avoid social distancing risks.
As they have during every prior disease outbreak, state and local agency leaders must oversee the allocation of immunizations. To that end, the Biden Administration is also working closely with state and local partners to increase vaccine supply, the number of vaccinators, and the number of places where people can get vaccinated.
And just as they have during prior pandemics, public health officials across the nation must also track and measure every vaccine administered, along with associated outcomes, to ensure transparency and maintain full regulatory compliance.
To help state and local policymakers, robust community outreach is considered a lynchpin to successfully administering vaccines. Public health departments must create a safe, positive vaccination experience for everyone. They know communication plays a vital role in making the entire immunization process a smooth experience, before, during and after vaccination. This is why federal, state and local governments are increasingly focused on meaningfully engaging with people who may have been left out of initial COVID-19 community outreach activities. These include the elderly, people with limited access to the internet or with limited computer literacy, immigrants, homeless people, those with physical and mental disabilities, low income individuals, people working several jobs or working during non-traditional hours, and people who are English-language learners.
Public health agencies are working to quickly ramp up robust community outreach initiatives to help ensure no one is left behind. They also want to overcome vaccine hesitancy by providing accurate information and transparent support services to facilitate the immunization process.
Conduent’s Vaccine Response Centers enable public health agencies to facilitate vaccine administration at every phase of the vaccination process. “We stand ready – with nearly 50 years of government healthcare expertise and more than 24 years of eligibility assessment and determination experience – to help public health agencies address their most crucial community outreach challenges,” said Mark King, Group President, Conduent Payment and Eligibility Solutions.
“Based on our longstanding strength and expertise in helping public health authorities successfully overcome disease outbreaks, from SARS, to H1N1, to Ebola, and others, we know that coordinated communication and consistent messaging increases transparency and builds greater trust in vaccination administration,” King explained.
Conduent is working to help public health agencies improve community outreach, with flexible and scalable solutions and services that integrate with existing case management platforms, and can help agencies equitably and safely administer COVID-19 vaccinations.
To learn more about Conduent Vaccine Response Centers, visit our website or contact us at eligibilityenrollment@conduent.com.