HHS recently announced a new $250 million investment in a community-based workforce that, “Will serve as trusted voices sharing information about vaccines, increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence, and address any barriers to vaccination for individuals living in vulnerable and medically underserved communities.” This investment is a new part of the administration’s strategy to increase vaccine confidence in communities that are traditionally hard to reach, such as those in rural America. NRHA strongly supports this investment and the Biden Administration’s approach. NRHA has explained that rural Americans and other vaccine hesitant populations need to hear messages and receive help from the people they trust in their communities to administration officials and news media. We believe this new investment in a community-based workforce that focuses on increasing vaccine confidence will help increase vaccine uptake in rural communities.
