Vaccines save lives – and in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis, they are working. More than 296 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the United States. Communities and businesses are beginning the careful reopening process, and families are looking forward to seeing their loved ones again. We are nearing the goal of achieving community immunity from COVID-19. Finishing the last mile will rely on strong data integration.
Throughout the pandemic, the public sector and the free market have come together in unprecedented ways to ensure that people have access to care, support doctors and hospitals, and bolster our communities with access to food and services.
Those partnerships extended as COVID vaccines received emergency use authorization, and states, clinics, and health insurance providers worked to provide these vaccines for free. In March, health insurance providers demonstrated their commitment to equitable access to free vaccines with the Vaccine Community Connectors initiative, and we continue to work to vaccinate millions of people in our most at-risk and underserved communities.
Since then, health insurance providers have made tens of millions of calls and other forms of outreach to encourage people to get their COVID vaccines. We have hosted clinics. We have offered incentives. We have armed employers, community organizations, and providers with educational materials. We have provided transportation to and from a vaccine appointment, and we found ways to vaccinate people within their homes. Health insurance providers know this is a long-term commitment to get the country to immunity, and to maintain that immunity through boosters, annual vaccinations or other necessary measures.
We have also learned some difficult and important lessons along the way. Millions of phone calls, emails, text messages and other “touches” are being made with people who have been vaccinated or already have a vaccine appointment. That is because health insurance providers often cannot access public health data systems that can tell us who has and has not been vaccinated. We need to be able to better target and personalize our outreach to ensure that these critical efforts are focused on those most in need our help.
This is where state leaders can help. By providing health insurance providers with access to their immunization information systems (IIS), health insurance providers can target every call, every communication, every outreach, to those who have not yet been vaccinated. We can better understand why they may be hesitant, provide them with tailored information and education, and offer the support they need to make an appointment – and keep it. Access to IIS data can also empower health insurance providers to reach out to people who still need to get a second dose of a vaccine, and help them to get an appointment.
It’s also where federal leaders can assist by specifically authorizing and encouraging states to use recently appropriated CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act resources for the purpose of providing access to this vital information to health insurance providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a fundamental part of Americans’ lives for 15 months and counting. America cannot afford to lose any more time in achieving community immunity. Public-private partnerships have helped to support our communities through the crisis this far. By extending those partnerships through secure sharing of data about who has been immunized, we can better target every outreach and connection to put an end to the pandemic and get back to the moments we all miss.
For more information, read our white paper with Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP).