Community Collaboration to Implement a Vaccination Clinic in Rural Areas

Abstract

Primary care has delivered more vaccinations to people in the US than any other healthcare organization or entity. Patients seek vaccine advice from their primary care clinician, and this is no different for the COVID-19 vaccine. While mass COVID-19 vaccination sites are a critical piece of the greater public health strategy to immunize our communities, reaching older, underserved, and vaccine adverse communities will require engaging primary care and leveraging the trusting relationships practices establish with communities. Oregon Health & Science University Family Medicine Health Center, Scappoose, OR, collaborated with our rural county health department to establish a mass vaccination site at our clinic building. Based on our experience, we also developed a toolkit for decision-makers and implementers of vaccine clinics, designed to be a “vaccination clinic in a box,” that could be replicated in, and tailored to, many types of settings.