L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country, is awarding $250,000 to the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Long Beach DHHS) in an effort to administer up to 15,000 COVID-19 doses in the city, focusing on L.A. Care members. The latest data show that about 57 percent of L.A. Care members in Long Beach are unvaccinated. This effort could lower the number of unvaccinated L.A. Care members in Long Beach by 10 percent.
Using this funding, the Long Beach DHHS will deploy two additional Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVT), which will conduct vaccination pop-ups in neighborhoods with the lowest vaccination rates among individuals five years of age and older. The MVTs will complement educational efforts and canvassing by street outreach teams providing facts to vaccine hesitant residents.
The MVTs will conduct at least 24 vaccination events at local school and community sites. The staff will work closely with community members and faith-based organizations to serve as subject matter experts on cultural values to break through barriers that might be causing vaccination hesitancy.
This campaign, which is a part of L.A. Care’s Vaccine Incentive Program approved by the California Department of Health Care Services, will begin March 15, 2022. L.A. Care’s Vaccine Incentive Program began in September of last year.