Housing Authority Efforts to Boost Resident and Staff COVID-19 Vaccinations

•Partnering with Summit County Public Health, AMHA was able to bring onsite vaccination clinics at six of our elderly/disabled buildings. Safely administering the vaccine in resident’s community to reduce barriers or health disparities in a vulnerable population. AMHA  has also collaborated with the National Guard, Akron Children’s Hospital, and the Ohio Department of Aging.

•In total, AMHA has been able to support the delivery of 1,022 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

•AMHA is addressing vaccine uptake reluctance by utilizing marketing efforts to providing accurate information to residents about vaccine safety and the importance of getting vaccinated.

•AMHA is committed to continue to facilitate more onsite clinics throughout the summer.

• HACA initially partnered with Austin Public Health (APH) in February to hold onsite vaccination clinics at all of its senior sites--prioritizing and protecting their most vulnerable residents. Additionally, critical HACA staff were able receive the vaccine as well. 
• HACA's partnership with APH evolved in May to include a commitment to provide vaccination clinics at all 14 multi-family sites to reduce barriers to accessibility and help disrupt the inequities in vaccine distribution seen nationwide. 
• HACA's dedicated team of resident-led Community Health Workers, as well as property management staff and resident council leadership, have conducted outreach--flyering, direct canvassing, and texts/calls--to ensure residents have been made aware of event details for each of our 14 clinics so far. 
• HACA was recently awarded a United Way Vaccine Hesitancy grant and will use a portion of those funds to pilot its first Resident Health Ambassador (RHA) program, which will center resident input and voices in its efforts to increase vaccine confidence.
• In total, HACA has helped support the delivery of 894 doses of COVID-19 vaccines at APH/HACA clinics and is committed to at least 13 more onsite clinics over the summer.
• HACA is offering a financial incentive to all staff ($500) that fully vaccinate by end of July.  

The Boston Housing Authority has over 50 public housing developments, more than thirty of which are designated elderly/disabled sites. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts included senior housing as part of its second phase of vaccine roll-out but left the initiative and partnership to housing authorities and local public health agencies and pharmacies. As soon as its sites became eligible, BHA held vaccine clinics across its elderly/disabled portfolio, partnering with six independent pharmacies, Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS), a new “Get Out the Vaccine” (GotVax) partnership of healthcare professionals and supply chain distribution professionals, and other partners. Any interested resident, as well as site staff, were able to access vaccine and residents who needed it received in unit vaccinations. BHA provided translation representative of Boston’s diverse communities, including Spanish, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese. As eligibility opened up, BHA continued to partner with Boston EMS and GotVax to host clinics at or adjacent to its family developments. The authority’s role shifted over time as a direct convener to a host or promotional partner of vaccine opportunities. This continues as local organizations canvass to reach residents who either were unavailable or who hesitated to be vaccinated for any reason. 

• BHA’s onsite clinics began on February 27 at two of its elderly/disabled public housing sites
• All BHA elderly/disabled sites had on-site clinics and all family sites had on-site clinics or clinics adjacent to the development – final second shot clinics finished up in May.
• Prior to the vaccine clinics, BHA also partnered with the city and state to provide on-site testing clinics at a number of BHA developments and had one ongoing public testing site at its Mildred C. Hailey development.
• In order to staff the clinics, BHA staff from all departments served as volunteers. 
• Multilingual outreach included flyers, door knocks and phone calls to residents.  Staff, resident leaders and partner organizations assisted with outreach.
• BHA targeted all eligible populations as eligibility expanded.

• Volunteers from Harvard Medical School and student groups such as We Got Us implemented a weeklong campaign to engage residents around the issue of vaccine access and hesitancy.  

• INLIVIAN has assisted over 300 of their residents in signing up for vaccine efforts in Charlotte, NC.   
• In partnership with the health department, INLIVIAN held vaccine clinics at all of their 9 senior sites in March 2021, with over 138 people being vaccinated. Atrium Health Care held additional vaccine clinics at the senior sites a few months later. 
• CW Williams Community Health Clinic and Novant Healthcare will be holding vaccine clinics in the family sites in July 2021.

• Vaccinations were provided via the Pharmacy Participation Program, in cooperation with Cook County, Walgreens, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

• Bringing the shots to where seniors live was “very nice,” one resident said, so she and her neighbors would not have to travel somewhere else to get them.  

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told Evanston Now that there is “clearly an equity issue nationwide” for vaccine distribution, and “bringing the vaccinations to people’s doorsteps” is one way to deal with that.  

• Partnered with Denver Public Health and Denver Fire Department through the month of January and February to provide on-site Moderna vaccinations to individuals ages 70+ in DHA senior and non-elderly disabled buildings. 

• HACEP, in collaboration with University Medical Center (UMC), Amistad, El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso County and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, distributed vaccines to more than 800 elderly residents on February 2, 2021. 

• JCHA offered free transport to vaccine sites for senior residents. 

• Elm City Communities collaborated with the Department of Health for PHA properties to become vaccination hubs.  

• OHA staff have been encouraging residents to get vaccinated. 

• OHA has held vaccination clinics at most OHA properties with help from FEMA and partners. 

• Vaccination sites are open to OHA residents, staff, and the broader community. OHA is offering staff free PTO to get vaccinated.  

• HACSB has provided residents with information on how to get vaccinated particularly for their aging residents and individuals who primarily speak Spanish.  

• Through a partnership with the health department, the PHA is coordinating onsite vaccination events for their public housing residents.

• In March 2021, Vancouver Housing Authority collaborated with Clark County Public Health to provide onsite vaccinations at senior and disabled buildings and administered 260 first doses. They were also able to vaccinate staff due to the extra doses available at the end of each effort.  

• Yakima Housing Authority was able to collaborate with Yakima County Public Health to provide onsite vaccinations for its senior and disabled units, as well as staff. As of May 2021, they were working towards onsite vaccinations for their farmworker tenants as well.