U.S. Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra right now visited a Sacramento elementary faculty the place UC Davis Well being hosted a COVID-19 vaccine clinic.
Becerra toured Language Academy of Sacramento close to the sting of the Oak Park neighborhood the place he noticed a few of the dozens of individuals getting first-time photographs and boosters. He additionally chatted with mother and father, met with leaders of grassroots organizations and thanked UC Davis Well being for focusing its neighborhood immunization efforts on reaching weak populations.
On the go to, Becerra kicked off a nationwide tour to debate Latino well being with a give attention to addressing well being disparities and growing well being fairness.
“We’re dedicated to closing the well being disparities that set our neighborhood again — bettering entry to care and shutting COVID vaccine gaps — as a result of I need Latinos to not simply survive however succeed,” Becerra stated.
UC Davis Well being has been a pacesetter in immunizing hard-to-reach communities in Sacramento and surrounding rural areas since early 2021 when the primary COVID vaccines turned broadly obtainable.
The Friday afternoon pop-up clinic within the faculty multipurpose room was a part of a far-reaching initiative often called MOVE IT UP: Mobilizing Organizations Through Equitable Immunizations and Testing by way of Unified Partnerships.
MOVE IT UP is headed by the UC Davis Middle for Decreasing Well being Disparities (CRHD), a nationwide chief in analysis to enhance well being fairness. The middle’s position expanded when statistics confirmed astonishingly excessive COVID loss of life charges amongst Latinos and African Individuals within the early days of the pandemic – that’s when CRHD sought federal grants and established full-fledged vaccination and testing initiatives for a major geographical space stretching from Yolo County to Fresno.
Supported by a $5 million FEMA grant, MOVE IT UP is a part of a collaboration with the California Division of Public Well being’s (CDPH) Workplace of Well being Fairness, the Sacramento and Yolo counties’ public well being departments, the Consulate of Mexico, Well being Schooling Council and different community-based organizations.
Underneath the grant, FEMA offers the funding to the CDPH, which in flip contracts with UC Davis Well being for the personnel, tools, vans and different bills associated to delivering vaccines.
Greater than 6,000 vaccine doses have been administered underneath MOVE IT UP, practically half to Latinos.
Dozens of non permanent vaccine clinics have been held at church buildings, farms, nonprofit businesses, festivals, well being festivals, Latino-themed grocery shops and different areas simply accessible to important staff on evenings and weekends.
Faculties in ethnically and racially numerous neighborhoods have been common websites for vaccination clinics as a result of they’re establishments that immigrant mother and father belief and are straightforward to entry.
The clinic at Language Academy of Sacramento, on 49th Road close to UC Davis Medical Middle, drew mother and father who have been on campus to select up their youngsters after faculty.
“Any time we may also help our neighborhood acquire entry to vaccines, or another sort of well being care is nice for us,” stated Eduardo de León, the varsity’s govt director. “We’re proud to be half of a bigger effort that makes COVID vaccine entry as straightforward as attainable, by assembly individuals the place they’re.”
The vaccination part for MOVE IT UP, which started in December, ended Friday. The initiative will transition right into a testing and remedy part in partnership with CDPH.
“We’re excited to see that our neighborhood is utilizing this useful resource and elated that we have been in a position to ship over 6,000 doses by way of these vaccine clinics,” stated Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, director of the UC Davis Middle for Decreasing Well being Disparities. “Working towards equitable entry to COVID vaccination and testing has been on the core of our work right here at UC Davis and the success of this marketing campaign exemplifies this effort.”
