Walk-up vaccine clinic seeks to protect homeless residents
Patricia Ospina has been trying to get a COVID-19 vaccine for more than a month.
Ospina, 55, was homeless for more than a year before moving into a group home about a year ago, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began.
She’s hasn’t left her home for most of the past year, except for doctor’s appointments. When she became eligible to get vaccinated, she jumped at the opportunity.
But Ospina doesn’t have a car or easy access to internet, which made it near impossible to find a vaccine appointment.
She tried her pharmacy, but was told she’d have to make an online account and sign up on the website. She called
her nearest Fry’s and Walgreens, but they weren’t offering vaccines at those locations.
“I’ve never seen it be so hard for anybody to get a shot when they need it,” Ospina said.
Last week, she found out her father who lives in Florida was diagnosed with COVID-19 and is in the ICU. Ospina, who has asthma, arthritis and fibromyalgia, ramped up her search after hearing the news.
Ospina still gets her medical care and other services at the Human Services Campus in downtown Phoenix, where she used to stay when she was homeless. She called the Circle the City health care clinic and asked for help.
About 10 a.m. Tuesday, Ospina got her first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Vaccine event for homeless
Circle the City, with support from the Human Services Campus and Maricopa County, is hosting a weeklong event on the campus to vaccinate people experiencing homelessness. They do not need an appointment.
Anyone on the campus can stop by the tents near the Brian Garcia Welcome Center between 8 a.m.-2 p.m. for a free
COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Melissa Sandoval of Circle the City said her team has been vaccinating people experiencing homelessness for months at the organization’s clinic, but sees more success at walk-up events.
“If even just calling and making an appointment and walking into our clinic is a barrier, we’d like to lower that barrier,” she said.
The goal is to vaccinate 500 people this week.
Circle the City had intended to use the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine but switched to Moderna vaccines Tuesday after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing distribution of the vaccine after reports of blood clots in individuals who received the vaccine.
Curbing vaccine hesitancy
Heidi Ward, Circle the City chief operations officer, said the organization wanted to make the vaccine events like a fair.
There are drinks and snacks available, and everyone who gets a vaccine gets a McDonald’s gift card.
Ward said she knows some people are fearful or hesitant about the vaccine and she hopes an inviting environment will encourage those people to talk to medical providers, learn more and eventually agree to get the vaccine.
“(We’re) making it more of a festivetype event as opposed to a health care clinical setting,” she said.
Ward said many of the vaccine concerns she hears from homeless patients are the same as those from the general population: They’re worried the vaccine was rushed and unsafe.
She said some people experiencing homelessness are also worried about the possible side effects of the vaccine and what they will do if they get sick after the shot. Ward said her staff has ensured people that side effects are typically mild and that Circle the City can treat them in the clinic if they have a serious reaction.
Circle the City displayed a six-foottall poster of a thermometer to measure how many vaccines the organization has distributed. So far, they’ve given 2,200 vaccines, about halfway to the eventual goal of 5,000.
Ward said she hopes people who may be skittish will see how many people have already received the shot and feel more comfortable.
Why COVID-19 is so dangerous for the homeless population
When it comes to vaccinating people experiencing homelessness, the stakes are high.
Circle the City and other homeless services providers have worked to try to keep COVID-19 infections at bay within the population, but the risk of outbreaks persists.
People experiencing homelessness don’t have homes to isolate in and often have to congregate around others to get meals or other services.
Ward and Sandoval said it has been difficult to enforce mask policies and educate about the risk of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections.
Sandoval said there’s also a heightened chance that people experiencing homelessness could die or end up in the hospital if they contract COVID-19 because they often have pre-existing medical conditions or substance abuse disorders.
Sandoval said events like the one on the Human Services Campus allow medical providers to have conversations with people experiencing homelessness and figure out why they are hesitant about the vaccine and answer other questions they may have about COVID-19.
Often, it doesn’t take much to get them on board, she said.
“Just simple education is what we find is the most convincing,” Sandoval said.