Minnesota Community Care
COVID-19 Vaccine Pop-up Clinics and Outreach at Shelters and Community Centers in St. Paul
by Anna Jones
COVID-19 Vaccine Pop-up Clinics
The COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinics were initiated by Minnesota Community Care with the purpose of making vaccines accessible to vulnerable populations. When vaccines were made available to unhoused people, by the state of Minnesota in January of 2021, Minnesota Community Care applied for state funding to run clinics within shelters in order to combat the issues of accessibility surrounding vaccinations. Once approved for state funding, the pop-ups clinics would make rounds to numerous shelters within St. Paul to hold walk-in vaccine events. These clinics made it easier for unhoused people to get the vaccine and get the second dose since the vaccines were given on site, where they were staying. Additionally, these clinics provided extensive information to the local community about the vaccines in order to address potential hesitations towards getting vaccinated. When vaccines were made available to the general population in late March of 2021, the pop-up clinics were also held at community centers. These vaccines were also available on a walk-in basis and the events were primarily held in Latinx neighborhoods where there is generally less trust in Big Pharma, due to medical abuse in the past from western medicine. Staff would go out into the neighborhood to invite people to the clinics and we would often get people who could manage to swing by the clinics during their lunch break since the pop-up clinics were being held close to their workplace. Many individuals did not seem to be seeking the vaccine, but were happy to get it due to the convenience of the pop-up clinics. The clinics provided language support with staff who spoke Hmong, Spanish and Russian. They were also able to provide translators online for other languages as well. No one was ever sent away with unanswered questions about the vaccines, the staff were very patient with questions surrounding the vaccine and thorough in their explanations.
The primary goal of the vaccine clinics was to vaccinate vulnerable populations and do it throughout local shelters and community centers on a walk-in basis to eliminate as many potential barriers as possible. However, an important secondary goal was to provide thorough medical support to combat the distrust in medicine and Big Pharma and provide a positive medical experience for marginalized populations.
COVID Vaccine Infographic from MCC website
MCC employees providing pre-vaccine forms to someone about to get the vaccine
What MCC medical assistants/nurses use to give the Moderna Vaccines
Minnesota Community Care
Minnesota Community Care aims to provide accessible healthcare regardless of income, insurance or immigration status. They operate clinical care sites in St. Paul and in the St. Paul Public School in addition to community outreach events throughout St. Paul, such as the COVID-19 vaccine clinics. Their goal is to improve the quality of healthcare for marginalized communities. For example, they provide doula support for women of color during pregnancy and provide access to contraception and sexual education for students in high schools in order to make these resources incredibly accessible. This organization strongly believes that the way to strengthen the wellbeing of a community is through providing access to good healthcare for all.
My Role
In this role I helped with outreach, health education, site evaluation, supply transportation, and provided extra support for troubleshooting. Some of the challenges with the role included showing up to a site and creating a clinic a half hour prior to administering vaccines. Additionally we often faced vaccine hesitancy from people of marginalized communities who reasonably distrusted Big Pharma. I would help provide accurate information to help people make decisions about getting vaccinated. There was never any pressure to be vaccinated and these outreach events would return to sites to give people multiple opportunities to get vaccinated. I would also help with translating information to Spanish.
During the day-to-day, I would set up events so that they could flow well. I would help people fill out informational forms to get vaccinated and explain the side-effects to the vaccine and answer any questions regarding the vaccine or direct them to the nurse for further questions. I would scan patients for certain health concerns that may make it more risky to get the vaccine and I would check Minnesota’s online vaccine registry to make sure individuals had not received another vaccine within the past fourteen days. I would move supplies from location to location and help troubleshoot any issues that came up at the sites.
Lessons Learned
This project provided me the opportunity to help with one of the biggest health crises to date. It was a rewarding experience to help get vaccines to individuals who were excited to get the vaccine. As well as help increase the amount of people who were vaccinated by making that process easier for people who may have had more trouble accessing vaccines from a primary doctor or a site that required appointments. It was tiring work, sometimes we would host an event that lasted hours and only successfully vaccinate five or less people. However, I felt that providing access to the vaccines was very important even if the turnout occassionally felt small given the effort needed to hold these events. This opportunity has only increased my interest in making healthcare more accessible. Many people expressed more immediate needs such as access to primary care that need to be met more immediately than COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally some people couldn’t get vaccinated because they couldn’t afford to get sick from the side effects. These are just a few of the many problems that need to be addressed in terms of accessibility to healthcare.
Anna Jones
Hello! My name is Anna Jones (she/her) and I am from Minnetonka, Minnesota. At Macalester I am an Anthropology with a concentration in Community and Global Health. I am interested in pursuing Medical Anthropology and/or Public Health after college. On campus I am on the club rowing team, I am the Collegiate Health Officer for Macalester First Aid and I work as an EMT. Outside of school I enjoy bouldering, listening to/playing music and spending time outside!
Image Citations
Covid Vaccine Stories: Monica Herrera - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGAadIoLpqM.
“Health Care for St. Paul, MN.” Minnesota Community Care, 18 Jan. 2022, https://www.mncare.org/.