If you live in the city of Syracuse, you might hear an extra knock on the door soon.
A new program will fund community health workers to conduct COVID vaccine outreach and prevention to address healthcare disparities for at-risk residents.
The initiative, a collaboration between the city and nonprofit organizations, is funded by a $600,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Syracuse officials partnered with the Healthcare Education Project and local workforce groups, such as Center for Healthcare Workforce Development at the 1199SEIU union, to apply for the grant.
Healthcare Education Project organizer Latoya Jones will lead the new CARES for COVID-19 Response program, which she said will help the city catch up on vaccinations.
“Our county is at maybe 70%, our city is not. Our city is the sickest part of our county, we still have numbers that are in the, you know, the 50 percentile with vaccination,” Jones said
Syracuse has seven of the 10 lowest vaccination rates by zip code in Onondaga County, according to data reported to the state. Six of those zip codes have vaccination rates under 60%.
Jones said CARES for COVID-19 Response is designed to be a bridge between healthcare officials and community members.
“Everybody’s not on social media, everybody doesn’t have a computer, everybody doesn’t have access to places like Syracuse Community Connections where they can come and get a vaccine, but they don’t know that it’s happening on Tuesday and Friday,” she said.
In addition to lack of access, one of the program’s biggest hurdles is vaccine hesitancy. Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens said person-to-person conversations can help get past misinformation.
“It really comes down to trusted messengers looking in an individual’s eyes, sharing their vaccination story. There’s just fear of the unknown,” she said.
The CARES program’s health workers will be recruited from Syracuse residents to maximize community connections. Jones and Owens are hoping to have them trained and ready to knock on doors by the end of the year.