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In early April, Monterey County and a group of community organizations held a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in a school gym in the rural city of Soledad. In a promotional video produced about the event, locals shared what brought them out to get their vaccinations. “I did it to protect my kids,” said Greenfield farm worker Rosa Chavez in Spanish. “My family encouraged me to take the COVID vaccine…and I feel more secure now,” said Soledad resident Maria Ruiz.
The video highlights a Monterey County program known as Virus Integration Distribution of Aid (VIDA), which uses rural clinics and other outreach efforts to bring COVID-19-related resources to people like Chavez and Ruiz in hard-to-reach communities. The crux of the program involves community health workers (CHWs), lay people trained to deliver important public health information to the communities where they live.
Cal OES announced that it has received a $1 million donation from technology company DoorDash through its Community Credits program to support broader vaccine access in underserved communities. This new partnership also aims to bolster the outreach efforts of Mobile Vaccination Clinics (MVCs) and Community Vaccination Clinics (CVCs).
“As a critical component in our fight against COVID-19, we have prioritized making these vaccines and our distribution points for the vaccines as equitable and accessible as possible,” said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. “Meanwhile, we recognize in this effort to reach all Californians equitably, we need our partners in the private sector, like DoorDash, to make this possible. Cal OES is extremely appreciative of this DoorDash partnership and their contribution to support vaccine distribution in our communities hit hard by COVID-19.”