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Cornell University

Diversity Center of Excellence

Education Core of the Cornell Center for Health Equity

WCIMA Covid-19 Vaccine Intensive Outreach Equity Program

The Covid-19 Vaccine Intensive Outreach Equity Program is a quality improvement assessment and intervention to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rates of Black and Hispanic patients cared for at Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates (WCIMA) and at Lower Manhattan.

The largest primary care internal medicine practice at Weill Cornell Medicine, WCIMA is a housestaff-faculty practice that serves a diverse group of patients from across New York City. As COVID-19 vaccines became available, the section of Ambulatory Internal Medicine within the Division of General Internal Medicine, organized an interdisciplinary team to ensure equitable access to vaccinations among patients at our primary care practices. A team of clinicians, researchers, community health workers, medical students, and other personnel were mobilized to assist vulnerable patients in accessing COVID-19 vaccinations through direct telephone outreach by trained vaccination ambassadors.  The intervention aims to assess interest in and barriers to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, address concerns or questions regarding the vaccine, and facilitate scheduling of vaccination for those interested. The quality improvement assessment will be led by Dr. Christopher Gonzalez, HRSA Health Equity Research Fellow, with the support of Dr. Judy Tung.