From Alabama to Utah, efforts to vaccinate Medicaid enrollees against COVID run into obstacles

The federal government has authorized nearly $400 million for vaccination outreach efforts to underserved communities.

Utah’s difficulty getting Medicaid enrollees vaccinated is mirrored in other states.

In Ohio, 54% of adult Medicaid enrollees are at least partly vaccinated, compared with 73% of adults in the general state population.

Washington state has vaccinated 43% of its Medicaid enrollees 5 and older, compared with 76% of all state residents in that age group.

In Virginia, 41% of Medicaid enrollees 5 and older are vaccinated, compared with 76% of state residents in that age group.

In California, about 54% of Medicaid members 5 and older are at least partly vaccinated, compared with 81% of state residents in that age group.

Dr. Christopher Chen, medical director for the Washington Medicaid program, said that since Medicaid enrollees are more likely to be in poorer health, they are more likely to benefit from the vaccine to prevent complications from COVID. “It’s definitely something to be concerned about,” he said.

Washington, he noted, increased pay to doctors and pharmacists to vaccinate Medicaid enrollees and agreed to pay doctors to counsel patients about the vaccine. The state also gave its Medicaid health plans access to data showing which of their members had not been immunized so they could reach out to those people.

The University of Alabama received a $1 million federal grant last July to increase vaccination rates in an 18-county rural region in the southern part of the state where African Americans make up the majority of the population. Under the plan, community health workers canvass the region to inform residents about the benefit of the vaccine. The initiative also provides a $15 incentive payment for getting a shot.

Since last summer, many of the counties have seen vaccination rates double. But because the rates were so low to begin with, most of the area still has fewer than half of residents vaccinated.

Dr. Hee Yun Lee, who oversees the grant and is associate dean for research at the University of Alabama School of Social Work, said many people lack easy access to shots because they don’t have cars and mistrust of vaccines runs strong.

Another obstacle has been skepticism from some pastors, who told congregations not to fear COVID, Lee said. They also incorrectly told congregants that the disease can’t afflict them while they attend church, she said. A gathering of more than 300 people in a church recently led to an outbreak.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about the virus here,” she said.

Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.