The Ad Council, COVID Collaborative and rural organizations including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Cooperative Extension System, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) have collaborated to develop a series of public service announcements that highlight rural voices and stories involving COVID-19 in order to increase public confidence in vaccination. The summary discusses the importance of local perspectives to building community trust, as well as the impacts of the pandemic in rural areas.

Learn more.

The AgriSafe Network is a nonprofit organization that provides information and training on injury and disease related to agriculture.  Their health professionals and educators created a social media toolkit that aims to provide clear messages about COVID-19 vaccination for agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers.

See Reaching Farm Communities for Vaccine Confidence for more information.

By Kerry Thomson, Executive Director of the Center for Rural Engagement at Indiana University

When we think of the painful toll of Covid-19, we often picture urban scenes: lines for tests, overflowing hospitals, refrigerated trucks serving as makeshift morgues. Yet, staggering new data shows that the death rate from Covid in rural areas is now double what it is in urban ones. You would think that fact, coupled with medical professionals pleading with people in rural America to get vaccinated, would lead more to get their shots. Yet, people in rural states lead the list of those who remain unvaccinated, putting themselves and others at risk.

It’s enough to make increasingly angry vaccinated people shout: “Why won’t you listen to your doctor?”  To which, I respond: “What if they don’t have one?”

Many in rural America aren’t vaccinated because two pernicious forces — the implosion of the rural health care system and the decay of local news — have left them with limited sources of information. That has allowed them to become prey to misinformation and overconfident quacks.

Instead of blaming them for their vaccine hesitancy, we need to acknowledge that we all share responsibility for the crisis. We all failed to invest in the doctors and nurses who could be trusted sources of accurate information for rural patients. We all failed to provide adequate funding for rural hospitals and local clinics. We all failed to help a rural health system adapt, instead of decay.

Read more.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health Acting Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Director of the Vaccine Education Center and Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Paul Offit developed a video resource for Pennsylvanians to answer questions about vaccine safety.

Anyone can access and share this video resource, which already has more than 26,000 views, on Facebook or PAcast. In this video, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Offit review the vaccine approval process through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including the Emergency Use Authorization. Pennsylvanians requested information on how reporting vaccine data through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System works to enhance vaccine safety. Additionally, discussion includes information on the increasing scientific data on the safety of vaccines for children and pregnant people. They cover another highly requested topic regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine against variants, with a highlighted focus on effectiveness against the delta variant.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health and the United Way of Pennsylvania today announced an expansion of the Local Innovations in Vaccine Equity in Pennsylvania project (LIVE PA), which aims to reduce vaccine hesitancy and ensure an equitable vaccine distribution throughout the commonwealth. The United Way will administer an additional $630,000 in grants to support the efforts of local faith-based organizations.

“The [Pennsylvania Governor] Wolf Administration is committed to ensuring an effective and equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan across the commonwealth,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. “The expansion of LIVE PA to include our faith-based organizations shows our commitment to reaching individuals where they are and feel most comfortable, which is in their communities. We look forward to continuing the positive impact the LIVE PA project is making to further combat COVID-19.”

In June 2021, the Wolf Administration first announced the launch of the LIVE PA grant pilot program. LIVE PA is a collaboration between the Wolf Administration’s Office of Advocacy and Reform and the departments of Health and Human Services, working closely with the United Way of Pennsylvania to fund hyper-local, grassroots nonprofit organizations to partner with certified vaccine providers to help the populations they serve overcome barriers to vaccination.

The grant program is specifically designed for faith-based and non-profit organizations with a goal of administering vaccinations, as well as COVID-19 education and outreach. With a reimbursement rate of $10 per shot achieved and a matching rate of $10 per direct person-to-person outreach, the grants are designed initially to range from $400 to $40,000 per vaccination event. It also includes a requirement that the non-profits and local United Way chapters involved promote the events using traditional and digital media to help fight vaccine hesitancy.

“Faith-based organizations are trusted community groups who have opportunities to make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible. These grant resources can be used by faith-based organizations to contribute to healthy and safe communities in the face of climbing rates of infection related to COVID variants. We encourage faith-based organizations, as well as nonprofits, to apply for the LIVE PA grant,” Kristen Rotz, President of United Way of Pennsylvania said.

Interested non-profit and faith-based organizations can use the United Way information formOpens In A New Window to apply for the grant. If you would like to talk to your local United Way before applying, please use the Find Your United Way toolOpens In A New Window to find your local United Way. Questions can be directed to info@uwp.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Mark O’Neill – RA-DHpressoffice@pa.gov

Applications open on September 29

The Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is making $25.5 billion in new funding available for health care providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes:

• $8.5 billion from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or Medicare patients. ARP rural payments to providers will be based on the amount of Medicaid/CHIP and Medicare services provided to patients living in rural areas as defined by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy; and
• $17 billion for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 payments for a broad range of providers who can document revenue loss and expenses associated with the pandemic. For these Phase 4 payments, smaller providers—who tend to operate on thin margins and often serve vulnerable or isolated communities—will receive reimbursements for lost revenues and COVID-19 expenses at a higher rate compared to larger providers. Phase 4 will also include bonus payments based on the amount of services providers furnish to Medicaid/CHIP and Medicare patients, who tend to be lower income and have greater and more complex medical needs.

Providers will apply for both programs with a single application, and the application portal will open on September 29, 2021.

For more information about eligibility requirements, the documents and information providers will need to complete their application, and the application process for Phase 4 and ARP Rural payments, visit: https://www.hrsa.gov/provider-relief/future-payments.

Today’s announcement also includes an important update about PRF reporting for payments received in the first half of 2020. Given challenges from recent natural disasters and the Delta variant, HHS announced a 60-day grace period to help providers complete their PRF Reporting requirements if they fail to meet the September 30, 2021 deadline for reporting payments received from April 10, 2020 to June 30, 2020. While the deadlines to use funds and the Reporting Time Period will not change, HHS will not initiate collection activities or similar enforcement actions for noncompliant providers during the grace period.

See the HHS press release for more information.