COVID-19 Mobile Vaccine Program
In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg Philanthropies Greenwood Initiative announced a more than $6 million investment into the nation’s four historically Black medical schools to expand their COVID-19 vaccine operations by providing mobile vaccine services in their local communities of Nashville, Tennessee; Washington, DC; Atlanta, Georgia; and Los Angeles, California. Bloomberg Philanthropies is deepening its partnership with Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science as equity and public health advocates have signaled the need for trusted vaccine administrators to combat lack of access and vaccine hesitancy within Black and medically underserved communities.
The schools’ mobile units reach the most vulnerable and work with trusted partners, such as churches and senior centers, to set up temporary vaccination sites. The support from Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide mobile medical unit upgrades, paid staffing for the units, medical supplies, and increase outreach to the community to help each institution expand vaccine access within Black communities and to significantly increase their weekly vaccination rates.
For more information on the historically Black medical schools please visit:
Black Americans and our nation’s medically underserved are fighting two pandemics – COVID-19 and racial inequality. Minority communities have historically suffered from medical mistreatment and lack of access to quality health care but are now expected to trust a system that has neglected them for decades. As leaders in the healthcare community, it is our imperative to break this cycle and establish trust throughout our communities.
Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, President and CEO of Meharry Medical College
Top photo: Marqui Barber at the CDU Mobile Vaccine Program during the Resource Fair at Nickerson Gardens Housing Residence in Los Angeles.