Mobile Vaccinations Deliver Measurable ROI

Massachusetts General Hospital’s mobile COVID-19 vaccination van quadrupled its initial annual goal by providing more than 8,000 vaccinations within vulnerable communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This innovative vaccination service focused on Chelsea, Revere, and Everett near Boston, MA, and was made possible by a $1 million donation from the CVS Health Foundation in partnership with the Kraft Center for Community Health and Mass General’s Center for Community Health Improvement.

“The pandemic strengthened our commitment to being a general hospital,” commented David F.M. Brown, M.D., president of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), at the Chelsea HealthCare Center, celebrating the mobile clinic’s first year on July 12, 2022.

“We have seen this impact every day in our emergency department, throughout the hospital, in Chelsea, and in other community health care centers.”

Dr. Brown stated that when COVID-19 vaccines first became widely available, it became clear that the hospital needed to devote more time and resources to increase awareness and provide ample access to the vaccines. 

The MGH vaccination van has become a model for bringing health, wellness, and COVID-19 prevention practices directly to historically marginalized individuals, particularly those disconnected from the health care system and who use English as a second language.

During his remarks, Chelsea City Manager Thomas Ambrosino expressed his appreciation to MGH for its “extraordinary partnership” over the years, particularly during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The van traveled throughout the city to playgrounds, events, schools, and senior centers, to make the vaccination process easy and accessible.

“It helped Chelsea go from a city with the highest rate of infection to a city with one of the highest percentages of vaccinated residents in the whole Commonwealth,” added Ambrosino.

The U.S. National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness calls on the federal government to mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign that reaches people in all communities.

Mobile vaccination is an umbrella term to describe various initiatives to bring vaccination services closer to communities in need on a small scale, says the U.S. CDC.

This guide provides information that informs the planning and operations of all types and sizes of vaccination clinics, including key considerations to maximize throughput at vaccination sites in large venues, drive-through vaccination clinics, and smaller-scale mobile vaccination venues.

And in Texas, the health department added telephony support systems to integrate mobile vaccine services.

The state mobile program provides a way for Texas businesses and people who are homebound to schedule free mobile vaccinations.

Texas businesses, groups, or civic organizations with five or more individuals who voluntarily choose to be vaccinated can call 833-832-7068 to schedule a visit.

And Texans who are homebound can call 833-832-7067 to request a state mobile vaccination team to come to their home.

Furthermore, people with disabilities needing assistance getting vaccinated can contact the Disability Rights Texas Hotline by phone at 1-800-880-8401 or email: [email protected].

And in Houston, mobile vaccination services are integrating monkeypox vaccines.

During the Fourth of July weekend, the health department organized a targeted mobile vaccination clinic to vaccinate suspected contacts of two confirmed cases, and administered 125 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, reported ABC13 on July 23, 2022.

Additional monkeypox vaccination news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Monkeypox.

Note: As of July 25, 2022, various data sources indicate about 17,500 monkeypox patients were confirmed worldwide in 2022.

PrecisionVaccinations publishes fact-check, research-based vaccine news curated for mobile readership.