As California works to ramp up access to the COVID-19 vaccine, counties are making an effort to help eligible residents who are low-income or uninsured schedule their vaccine appointments.
In Santa Clara County, Public Health Deputy Director Rocio Luna says that even though all the information to make an appointment is online, she understand that not everyone has internet access. She said the county piloted a sign-up fair at the Cupertino Senior Center last week.
"That’s part of the strategy, to get into the community and overcome technology, language or housing barriers," she said. "Community health clinics are working alongside counties to do that outreach."
Sabra Matovsky is CEO of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, which partners with the county’s health network, serving over 100,000 patients a year, including about 18,000 who are living in cars, couch surfing or are otherwise unhoused.
Currently, the consortium is still vaccinating staff, but Matovsky hopes they can get to patients soon.
The people who come to her clinics do the work many of us depend on, and they need to get vaccinated, she said.
"There are a lot of people who do a lot of the basic things that need to happen every day to make sure that our society works," she said, "the food service, transportation, child care."