An Open Letter to President Biden re: Funding Grassroots Organizations Doing the Work of Covid-Vaccine Education
For the past six months, I have had the good fortune of being involved in two volunteer organizations that have made tremendous strides in vaccinating and educating thousands of my county’s most vulnerable and underserved residents. One is called Greenburgh Covid Angels, and the other #VaxUpWestchester, and they have both been made possible by the activism and support of a small handful of truly community oriented civil servants (most notably Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner, who ideated each initiative); the dedicated patronage and partnership of local advocacy organizations, pharmacists and medical providers; and, above all, the grit and compassion of countless grassroots volunteers.
Since vaccines became FDA authorized for emergency use earlier this year, I personally have been heartened as older couples and homebound or immobile individuals of all ages tearfully convey gratitude for guiding them through the thicket of online-scheduling tools and invasive questionnaires; helped direct traffic at ad hoc vaccination clinics that served as a literal lifeline to scared and sequestered seniors; and stood in the blazing heat of a car-wash parking lot, side-by-side with other determined volunteers, opening a dialogue with customers about what’s stood between them and immunization while they wait for their car to emerge good as new — and beaming as a portion of them sat down mere feet from where their vehicle was being serviced to get vaccinated by one of our local pharmacy partners.
None of that, it needs to be said, has been made possible by state and federal government. In the early going (i.e. January-March) of connecting folks throughout our region (namely, lower-to-mid Westchester County in New York) with the vaccine, inscrutable and inconsistent eligibility criteria and screening protocol dictated by the State needlessly complicated Covid Angels’ mission and messaging. And worse, it sowed cynicism, doubt and mistrust among even the most desperate and willing individuals in search of a vaccine. Nevertheless, without a dime to spend on anyone’s time or efforts, we succeeded in facilitating successful and convenient appointments for several thousand of our neediest neighbors.
As eligibility expanded and shots became more accessible for many, #VaxUpWestchester was formed as a complementary campaign concerned with broad educational outreach and street-level engagement of individuals who remained wary of the vaccine; suffered from a lack of credible information about its safety, efficacy and universal essentialness; expressed legitimate fears of government impingement on their privacy and skepticism that the vaccine was free for all; or were justifiably anxious about taking time off of work, no matter the purported benefits to their health and community, if it meant losing any amount of income or their job outright.
Together with Covid Angels, #VaxUpWestchester has penetrated local zip codes that have lagged behind more affluent towns, cities and municipalities in overall vaccination rates. (See: 35.3% of the 12+ population vaccinated in Yonkers zip code 10705 as of June 1, compared to 68.7% in Scarsdale zip code 10583 just over 10 miles way.) And in most cases, these are the same communities that were initially, disproportionately ravaged by the virus, and for so many of the same endemic reasons.
That’s why we have been there at the churches, food pantries, car washes and other local businesses and institutions where residents live, shop, worship and congregate with information and conversation and — in many cases — trusted local vaccinators on-site with doses in hand.
Our efforts merely mirror and hopefully enhance comparable commitments from similar groups up and down and across the tri-state area and, indeed, the entire country. And, again, nearly all of it on the backs of selfless citizens and overlooked caregivers who can’t help but see their own wellbeing as indistinguishable from that of their nearest most-wanting neighbor.
And we all applaud the Biden Administration’s role in making sure that vaccines have become almost unbelievably ubiquitous. And we have all leaned on important directives and distillations of information from the CDC. And we understand that retail pharmacies, grocery chains, sports franchises and other high-profile enlistees in the President’s efforts to reach the 70% nationwide vaccination threshold by July 4 have been instrumental in the process of making this improbable task as pervasive as possible.
And free beer and Mets tickets and random lotteries are all fine and well and serve their ends, but they do nothing to deliver crucially required aid to organizations like ours, or like Epicenter-NYC, or like Vaccine Brigade-Chicago — organizations that are looking at things through the lens of equity that the Biden Administration has promoted as its filter for all policy. They do nothing to support the hard work being done on the ground by individuals who see the gaps in what a coalition of corporations can accomplish and have filled that vacuum with dedicated community service. They do nothing to help reach people for whom gamification is far less meaningful compared to concrete reassurances that they and their loved ones can trust this vaccine and trust its source and trust that it won’t compromise their livelihood and quality of life.
Help us help them, President Biden. Empower and mandate the allocation of grants and financial support to organizations and coalitions doing the kind of compassionate outreach that transcends indiscriminate rewards contrived to reach some arbitrary milestone.
This is about equity, and it demands more than headline-making corporate philanthropy and won’t be achieved with free beer and raffles for hunting rifles alone. Your presidency has been defined by smart, direct distribution of stimulus to millions of Americans. If you want to truly hit your target and make this current effort more inclusive, don’t exclude or take for granted those of us working so hard to help protect populations who aren’t hesitant or reluctant, but simply scared and overwhelmed. Don’t let this most nuanced and urgent stage of our recovery devolve into a one-dimensional digital-marketing scrum.
