Mobile Health Services for COVID-19: Counseling, Testing, and Vaccination for Medically Underserved Populations.

Mobile health units can improve access to preventive health services, especially for medically underserved populations. However, there is little published experience of mobile health units being used to expand access to COVID-19 vaccination. In concert with local public health departments and community members, we implemented a mobile COVID-19 health unit and deployed it to 12 predominantly low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities in Massachusetts.

Expanding COVID-19 vaccine access to underserved populations through implementation of mobile vaccination units.

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted underserved populations, including racial/ethnic minorities. Prior studies have demonstrated that mobile health units are effective at expanding preventive services for hard-to-reach populations, but this has not been studied in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. Our objective was to determine if voluntary participants who access mobile COVID-19 vaccination units are more likely to be racial/ethnic minorities and adolescents compared with the general vaccinated population.