SC awarded $47 million to enhance COVID-19 vaccine uptake in minority communities
South Carolina will receive more than $47 million from the federal government to expand and enhance the state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
The funding, disbursed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is intended to ensure equitable vaccine access to those disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, specifically racial and ethnic minorities.
Three-quarters of the funding must be used on vaccine access, acceptance and uptake initiatives in minority communities and 60% must go to support local health departments, health centers and community organizations.
Such programs might include door-to-door outreach to help people schedule vaccination appointments, as has been occurring in Columbia, or hiring bilingual health workers to educate non-English speakers about vaccine availability, the CDC said.
“Millions of Americans are getting vaccinated every day, but we need to ensure that we are reaching those in the communities hit hardest by this pandemic,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “This investment will support state and local health departments and community-based organizations as they work on the frontlines to increase vaccine access, acceptance, and uptake.”
In South Carolina, Black and Latino residents are being inoculated at significantly lower rates than white residents, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data.
As of Monday, White South Carolinians had gotten shots at roughly 1.5 times the rate of Black residents and more than twice the rate of Latino residents, data show.
The CDC funding coming South Carolina’s way is part of a $3.1 billion pot of money the agency received through the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan and is doling out to 64 states, cities and territories across the country to boost equitable vaccine uptake.
It comes a day after the White House announced the opening of a federally supported mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the Columbia Place Mall on Two Notch Road.
The site, which is expected to open April 14 and run for eight weeks, is part of a joint federal pilot program to expand vaccination rates in communities with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection.
