Vaccines save lives, and health insurance providers are working every day to ease access to鈥攁nd build confidence in鈥攁pproved COVID-19 vaccines. That work includes participating in the Get the Medications Right (GTMRx) Institute Task Force, which was comprised of a group of national leaders focused on developing recommendations to address vaccine hesitancy and bolster vaccine confidence.
熊猫视频was among the participants that advised on a from the GTMRx Task Force that offers recommendations for how health insurance providers can address community-level vaccine hesitancy, both in the short term and long term. Short-term recommendations include:
- Convene community stakeholders and members to boost vaccine confidence.
- Collaborate in outreach with organizations across the local 鈥榟ealth neighborhood,鈥� such as hospitals, schools and school boards, faith-based organizations, and local businesses.
- Create local 鈥榲accine confidence leagues鈥� that focus on person-to-person outreach.
鈥淲e continue to see that working with local communities is the most effective way to boost confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines in general. Health insurance providers are committed to ensuring that every American can quickly access life-saving vaccines,鈥� 熊猫视频Senior Vice President, Clinical Affairs & Strategic Partnerships Kate Berry said. Berry is a member of GTMRx Task Force. Other members include leaders from the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Quality Forum, and the Veterans Health Administration.
Efforts to increase vaccine acceptance should continue beyond the COVID-19 crisis, the task force said, and should be used to advance access and uptake of all adult and childhood vaccines. The task force also noted that the government has a role to play as well, and the Food and Drug Administration should work to speed up final market approvals for vaccines. The federal government and states should also work together to improve immunization information systems that can support a real-time national vaccine information infrastructure.
Participating in the GTMRx Task Force is just one of many efforts by health insurance providers to encourage vaccine uptake. AHIP鈥檚 Vaccine Community Connectors initiative, for example, is working to enable the vaccination of millions of Americans in the most at-risk, vulnerable and underserved communities鈥攕uch as African American and Hispanic communities.
Make sure to click here to learn more what health insurance providers are doing to help Americans get vaccinated, and listen to our award-winning The Next Big Thing in Health podcast to hear more about addressing vaccine hesitancy from Dr. Sree Chaguturu, Chief Medical Officer at CVS Caremark.