Most of These Members are Fully Vaccinated
LOS ANGELES – L.A. Care Health Plan is proud to announce that more than one million members have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with the vast majority of those individuals being fully vaccinated. Despite this accomplishment, L.A. Care recognizes that it has much more work to do to get all eligible members vaccinated. The health plan submitted its COVID-19 Vaccination Response Plan to the state’s Department of Health Care Services last week, and it received approval within 24 hours.
“Approval of the plan means we will have access to 20% of the state funding we are eligible for to support a wide range of efforts to vaccinate more members,” said John Baackes, L.A. Care CEO. “We are doing all we can to contain the virus and stop it from infecting, hospitalizing and killing more people.”
Many of L.A. Care’s efforts listed in the response plan submitted to the state have been underway since early in the pandemic, and there is an emphasis on expanding these efforts by reaching the hardest hit communities as a part of the plan’s health equity efforts.
“COVID-19 disproportionately impacted poor communities of color, where there have been more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and, unfortunately, where there are firmly held beliefs about vaccinations, misinformation, and a lack of trust in the health care industry among many in these communities ,” said Richard Seidman, MD, MPH, L.A. Care Chief Medical Officer. “L.A. Care has been working to address these issues through a number of measures, and aims to be a trusted source of truth about the vaccine for our members and their communities.”
L.A. Care’s vaccination response plan proposes, among other things:
- Nearly $2 million in grants to clinics to help increase vaccinations in communities of color
- Member incentives for getting vaccinated
- Live one-on-one calls to unvaccinated members by staff armed with facts to counteract misinformation
- Outreach to offer in-home vaccines to members who require in-home care
- Calls and mailings promoting evidence-based information
- PSAs and myth-busting videos
- Billboards and bus shelter posters promoting vaccine efficacy
- Organic and paid social media posts targeting those who are vaccine hesitant
- Sponsorship and promotion of community events that increase equitable vaccine access
- Support for a door-to-door canvassing operation in under-vaccinated communities
- Sharing data with contracted providers and pharmacies where members are unvaccinated
- Working with trusted community sources, including faith-based organizations, to spread the message about vaccine safety and efficacy
Nearly 55 percent of L.A. Care’s eligible membership is at least partially vaccinated. In all of L.A. County, more than 76 percent of eligible residents 12 years of age and older have received at least one vaccine. L.A. Care is committed to increasing its number of vaccinated members. Using the strategies outlined in the vaccination response plan, L.A. Care is hoping to increase our vaccination rate among eligible members by 30 percent by the end of February.