Survey Results: COVID-19 Vaccine Activities in Rural Health Clinics

Nathan Baugh, Director of Government Affairs

Survey Results: COVID-19 Vaccine Activities in Rural Health Clinics

FREMONT, MICHIGAN - 55% of Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) are actively involved in administering COVID-19 vaccines to patients and over 90% of RHCs are actively involved in educating patients about the COVID-19 vaccine according to a survey of Rural Health Clinics conducted by NARHC.

Meanwhile, 43% of Rural Health Clinics have had their vaccine distributions plans disrupted by a lack of vaccine supply. A number NARHC hopes to see go down as more vaccine is made available.

“We are glad to see that the majority of RHCs are actively involved in administering the vaccine to their communities,” said Bill Finerfrock, Executive Director of the National Association of Rural Health Clinics. “However, lack of vaccine supply is hindering far too many Rural Health Clinics, more can be done, and more should be done by authorities to get vaccine supply into these rural, underserved areas.”

Rural Health Clinics have played a vital role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic in rural areas. Since May, RHCs supported by funding from HRSA’s RHC Covid-19 Testing Program have reported over 9 million COVID-19 tests on www.RHCcovidreporting.com. NARHC plans to publish more comprehensive data on COVID-19 testing activities in the months to come.