Metro, Partners Aim to Give Homeless Communities '100 Percent Access' to Vaccine

A collaboration between 19 Nashville organizations has set the goal of offering people experiencing homelessness complete access to the COVID-19 vaccine by Memorial Day. The effort is led by the Metro Public Health Department and community health care providers Neighborhood Health and St. Thomas Health.

The effort includes distributing the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine to homeless encampments, shelters and service provider sites. According to a press release, the initiative kicked off Friday, April 2, when MPHD and Neighborhood Health vaccinated 45 residents at the emergency shelter set up at the Fairgrounds Nashville.

“Our goal to make sure every person experiencing homelessness has the chance to get a COVID-19 vaccination by Memorial Day is within reach for two reasons,” Brian Haile, CEO of Neighborhood Health, says in the release. “First, Metro Public Health braved the elements and vaccinated hundreds of folks during the ice storm. Second, 19 organizations serving the homeless came together to build on that early success and get shots in arms.”

Haile is referring to an impromptu vaccination event during the February ice storm where, rather than let 400 doses of vaccine expire while clinics were closed due to weather, MPHD took the vaccines to Nashville Rescue Mission and gave them to 250 guests of the shelter.

Neighborhood Health has also been offering walk-up vaccinations at its downtown Nashville clinic on Friday mornings for people experiencing homelessness — no appointment required.

Equitable access to the vaccine has been an ongoing topic for many health care professionals and advocacy groups in Nashville for the past few months. In a February interview with NewsChannel 5, Bobby Watts of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council, which is based in Nashville, expressed concerns that the homeless population could be left behind without a plan in place.

Dr. Alex Jahangir, Chair of the Metro Coronavirus Taskforce and Chair of the Metro Board of Health, notes in the release that getting vaccinations to unhoused people is vital to keeping the vaccine rollout equitable: “Initiatives to reach those experiencing homelessness is another step to ensure the vaccine is being offered with an equity focus.” Adds Jahangir, “I am very grateful to each organization that has made the 100 percent access goal a priority."

The participating organizations are: 

• Colby’s Army
• Community Care Fellowship
• The Contributor
• Crescent Community Health
• The Little Pantry That Could
• Mental Health Coop
• Metro Homeless Impact Division/Metro Social Services
• Metro Public Health Department
• Nashville Rescue Mission
• Nashville Street Project
• Neighborhood Health
• Oasis Center
• Open Table Nashville
• Park Center
• People Loving Nashville
• Room in the Inn
• Saint Thomas Health/Ascension
• Shower the People
• ShowerUp