OHIO — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are giving rural Ohio health clinics a total of $1,337,283 to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Friday.
The funding, made available by the American Rescue Plan, will be divided up between 27 health clinics.
The announcement comes after warnings from health officials urging Americans to get vaccinated as cases of the highly-contagious delta variant rise in Ohio and throughout the U.S.
Earlier this week, the state reported its highest single-day increase of cases — more than 700 — within the last eight weeks.
“The delta variant is in fact rapidly increasing and is on a trajectory to become the dominant strain in Ohio,” Dr Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio chief medical officer, said last week.
The funding is being administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) through the Rural Health Clinic Vaccine Confidence (RHCVC) program.
“Rural health clinics play a crucial role in supporting our national vaccination effort to defeat COVID-19,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This funing will give trusted messengers in rural communities the tools they need to counsel patients on how COVID-19 vaccines can help protect them and their loved ones.”
Across the nation, $98 million is being distributed to more than 1,980 health clinics.
HHS said the goal is to improve health literacy, focusing on vaccine safety and broad vacation intiatives for rural areas.
“Rural Health Clinics are critical partners in addressing health equity gaps, including those related to vaccination,” said HRSA Acting Administrator Diana Espinosa. “This funding will help Rural Health Clinics address the barriers people in their communities face to getting vaccinated and build confidence in vaccines through trusted resources for health care services and health information.”
