Vaccines Into Arms, Part 1

by Farihah Hossain, J.D. & Peggy Daly Pizzo, M. Ed.

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic and many schools are in the process of re-opening. Many early care and education programs however, have remained open.

What is being done to ensure that early care and education providers--in child care centers, Head Start programs, preschool, small and large family child care homes, and more--are getting access to vaccines?

This Spotlight notes a variety of ways by which early care and education workers have secured vaccine appointments, and highlights the smart, innovative policy initiatives that have made targeted vaccination possible during this unprecedented time.

Some of the most innovative strategies to get vaccines into the arms of early care and education workers include:

• Relaxed land use restrictions to help facilitate set up of pop-up vaccine clinics,

• Staff hired to conduct COVID-19 contact tracing pivoted to conduct door-to-door vaccine outreach,

• The gym in one neighborhood high school turned into a mass vaccination site for the local community,

• Houses of worship, where trusted religious leaders who encourage those who have some concern about the vaccine, provided space for vaccine services,

• Pre-filled forms developed to help providers prove their vaccine eligibility under Tier 1b,

• And lots of inter- and intra-agency collaboration.

The focus of this publication is on four counties in California (Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Los Angeles), and lists local and state entities that have demonstrated leadership within these communities.

Our next Policy Spotlight in the "Vaccines Into Arms" series will dive into the nuts and bolts of how organizations such as Healthier Kids Foundation in Santa Clara and the Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles ensured that early care and education workers in their communities gained access to vaccines. What decisions were made? What collaborations took place? What are their success stories?

We will keep you posted on the Lift Each Other Up, LLC blog.

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This research is funded by First 5 Santa Clara County.

We recognize and thank early care and education workers on the frontlines; those who are supporting early care and education workers' health and safety; and those who have partnered with us to disseminate this critical information to further support the wellbeing of early care and education workers.