Kaiser Permanente grants stir more COVID-19 vaccinations

Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Clara and San Jose Medical Centers are increasing access to the COVID-19 vaccine through key partnerships with local community and government organizations as part of an effort to vaccinate priority populations and those most affected by the pandemic.

By working to remove barriers to vaccinations, Kaiser Permanente is helping to ensure people have convenient access to the vaccine, particularly within neighborhoods and underserved communities. Kaiser Permanente is providing strategic support to community clinics to increase vaccination rates and is enlisting trusted messengers in the community to deliver information about vaccine safety and effectiveness. Kaiser Permanente physician experts are also speaking to community groups to build confidence in the vaccine and address vaccination equity gaps.

Kaiser Permanente has invested $5 million in Northern California to support the equitable roll out of vaccine in the communities we serve. In the Santa Clara and San Jose service areas, more than $350,000 is supporting the following vaccination efforts:

· Indian Health Center: Provides services for indigenous communities and will use the grant to support evening pop-up vaccination clinics and outreach to indigenous youth.

• Asian Americans for Community Involvement: An organization dedicated to strengthening and improving the health of the Asian American community. The grant will be used to increase the number of staff providing vaccinations and enhance community education about the vaccine through social media.
• Sacred Heart Community Service: Dedicated to providing essential services to those in need, this organization will use the grant to distribute vaccine outreach materials to the public.
• African American Community Services Agency: One of the only African American cultural centers in the Silicon Valley, this agency will provide transportation to vaccine clinics and provide information about the vaccine to barber shops, salons and churches in the community.
• International Children’s Assistance Network (ICAN): A non-profit organization focused on helping children in the Vietnamese community will use the grant to provide educations and resources about the COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnamese residents.
• Silicon Valley Independent Living Center: This organization support tools and resources for people with disabilities and will use social media and translation services to provide information about the vaccine.
• The School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County: Provides high quality care to low income communities at school sites. The grant will allow the organization to vaccinate an estimated 4,000 teenagers through six clinics located at San Jose and Gilroy elementary and middle schools.

“Without the support of Kaiser Permanente, we wouldn’t be able to do half of the things that we need to in reaching out to these young people who haven’t been vaccinated yet,” said Stephanie Kleinheinz, Executive Director of School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County. “At this challenging time, Kaiser Permanente has been a great partner to School Health Clinics in ensuring that we can provide access to quality healthcare for all individuals."

White and higher-income Americans are more likely to have received a vaccine than African American, Hispanic, and lower-income groups.

A recent study by the independent Kaiser Family Foundation (not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente) found one-third of unvaccinated Hispanic adults say they want a vaccine as soon as possible, about twice as many as unvaccinated Black and White adults. However, Hispanics also report more barriers to getting vaccinated including fears about missing work, not being able to get the vaccine from a trusted place or difficulty traveling to a vaccination site.

Kaiser Permanente Northern California is committed to increasing vaccination rates by hosting town halls to dispel vaccine myths and educate the community on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, working with faith-based organizations to raise awareness about the vaccine and to provide access to vaccinations in homeless encampments, hard-to-reach neighborhoods and senior populations with barriers to getting vaccinated.

Kaiser Permanente’s approach to the allocation of COVID-19 vaccine is consistent with the organization’s strong legacy of championing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“We are committed to removing barriers to vaccination, so everyone has access to the vaccine in a timely manner,” said Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente’s San Jose Medical Center. “We are proud to be working with our community partners to focus on the equitable distribution of the vaccine, so that together we can bring this pandemic to an end.”