WASHINGTON – A limited number of federally qualified health centers in the nation's poorest communities will soon begin receiving Covid-19 vaccines directly from the U.S. government, the Biden administration announced Tuesday, thereby doing exactly what the leaders of such centers in Buffalo had been asking federal officials to do in recent weeks.
Two prominent doctors who serve Buffalo's poorest neighborhoods want to distribute vaccines instead of the state's pop-up clinics.
The leaders of Jericho Road Community Health Center and other such facilities that serve the region's poor had argued that they can better serve and connect with people who may be reluctant to get vaccinated or unable to navigate the state-directed, county-run vaccination effort. And at a White House event, members of President Biden's Covid-19 response team agreed that such health centers, which largely serve poor communities, should be a part of the vaccination effort.
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"Community health centers are an important part of our broader strategy to ensure we are reaching everyone with our response," said Jeffrey Zients, the White House Covid-19 coordinator.
Under the Biden plan, starting on Feb. 15, at least one federally qualified health center in every state will start receiving vaccine allotments.
"We will be starting with a phased approach and will ramp up over time," with 250 of the nation's 1,300 federally qualified community health centers eventually taking part in the effort's first phase, said Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, who heads the Biden administration's health equity task force.
The program could eventually reach three such centers in the Buffalo area: Jericho Road, Community Health Center of Buffalo and Neighborhood Health Center.
Dr. Myron Glick, founder and CEO of Jericho Road, said he was happy that the vaccination program would involve community health centers. But he said he was concerned about the apparent limited scope of the effort. He noted that there are 75 such health centers across New York State and that only one will be lucky enough to get the vaccine in the program's early days.
"That's the only part that gives me pause," he said. "Otherwise, obviously, I'm very excited."
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Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, responded to the White House announcement by writing a letter to the federal Health Resources & Services Administration to push for vaccine to be sent to community health centers in the Buffalo area.
Such health centers “are trusted providers in their communities, and leveraging the existing relationships they have with patients who may not otherwise have access to health care and who may be historically mistrustful of our health care system will be key in getting folks in these hard-to-reach communities vaccinated," Higgins wrote.
Glick agreed.
Given Jericho's deep relationship with Buffalo's refugees, as well as other residents of the West Side and East Side, "we're well-positioned to provide the vaccine in an equitable manner to the community," Glick said.
