On June 2, President Biden will announce a National Month of Action to mobilize an all-of-America sprint to get 70% of U.S. adults at least one shot by July 4th, so that more people can get the protection they need to be safe from a pandemic that has taken the lives of nearly 600,000 Americans.

Throughout the month, national organizations, local government leaders, community-based and faith-based partners, businesses, employers, social media influencers, celebrities, athletes, colleges, young people, and thousands of volunteers across the nation will work together to get their communities vaccinated.

Today, the President will announce actions that will make it even easier to get vaccinated, mobilize the country around vaccine outreach and education efforts, and incentivize vaccination. Additionally, organizations and businesses from across the country continue to step up and respond to the President’s call to action.

Thanks to the President’s whole-of-government response, the U.S. has made significant progress in its fight against the pandemic since the President took office less than 5 months ago. Already, 63% of adult Americans have gotten vaccinated, including 73% of Americans age 40 and over, and COVID-19 cases and deaths have plummeted as a result – cases are down over 90% and deaths are down over 85% since January 20th.

Twelve states have already given at least one shot to 70% of adults and more than 28 states and D.C. have fully vaccinated 50% or more of their adult populations, but millions of Americans still need protection against the virus.

Organizations and business from across the country have stepped up and responded to the President’s call to action. The National Month of Action will include the following initiatives:

MAKING IT EASIER TO GET VACCINATED AND ADVANCING EQUITY

• Free child care for individuals getting vaccinated: Four of the nation’s largest child care providers will offer free child care to all parents and caregivers getting vaccinated or recovering from vaccination from now until July 4^th. KinderCare and Learning Care Group locations across the country will offer free, drop-in appointments to any parent or caregiver who needs support to get vaccinated or recover from vaccination, and more than 500 YMCAs in nearly every state will offer drop-in care during vaccination appointments. Bright Horizons will also provide free child care to support the vaccination of over 10 million workers employed at participating organizations. The vaccine is free for everyone, however, many unvaccinated Americans report concern about the potential ripple expenses of getting vaccinated, such as having to pay for child care.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is also issuing new guidance that encourages states to use child care funding from the American Rescue Plan to provide financial incentives to neighborhood- and home-based child care providers who join the President’s call to action and support their communities in getting vaccinated. Visit Vaccines.gov/incentives.html to learn more.
• Extended hours at pharmacies across the country in June to offer more flexible appointment availability: Starting next week, thousands of pharmacies nationwide will stay open late every Friday in June, and offer services throughout the night to make sure Americans can get their shot. These extended hours will ensure that those with less flexible work hours have the opportunity to get vaccinated at times convenient to them. Participating pharmacy chains include Albertsons, CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens.

MOBILIZING THE COUNTRY TO DO MORE VACCINATION EDUCATION AND OUTREACH:

• Community Canvassing, Phone Banking, Text Banking, and Vaccination Events: The Administration’s organizing efforts will focus on what we know works best to ensure everyone has equitable vaccine access: person-to-person action that connects people with key resources and information like Vaccines.gov, text 4-3-8-8-2-9, the National COVID-19 Vaccination Hotline (1-800-232-0233), and more. The Month of Action will include calls and texts to people in areas with low vaccination rates and canvasses in neighborhoods close to walk-in clinics where people can get vaccinated on the spot. More than 100 organizations have already committed to host over 1,000 events the first weekend alone, with thousands of additional events to take place over the course of the month. The President will call on Americans to take at least five actions to help their communities during the Month of Action, and some volunteers may be invited to visit the White House in July. Americans can visit WeCanDoThis.hhs.gov to learn more and sign up to help their communities get vaccinated.
• “We Can Do This” National Vaccination Tour: The President will announce the Vice President will lead a nation-wide tour to reach millions of Americans who still need protection against the virus, to highlight the ease of getting vaccinated, encourage vaccinations, and energize and mobilize grassroots vaccine education and outreach efforts. The Vice President’s travel will be anchored in the South, and the First Lady, the Second Gentleman, and members of the Cabinet will also join the Administration’s tour to communities across the country.
• Mayors Challenge to Increase Vaccination Rates in Cities Across America: Mayors across the country are stepping up to help in this effort by launching the “Mayors Challenge,” a competition to see which city can grow its vaccination rate the most by July 4^th. Participating mayors commit to taking actions throughout the month to boost vaccinations, such as coordinated canvassing efforts, partnerships with local businesses, and incentives for local residents. The Administration has created a toolkit for mayors and local leaders, and will help recognize the winning cities later this year. More than 50 mayors of cities in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, and, as well as D.C., have already signed up the challenge, which is being run in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
• Shots at the Shop – A New Initiative to Engage Black-Owned Barbershops and Beauty Salons: The President will announce the Administration is teaming up with the Black Coalition Against COVID, the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity, and SheaMoisture to launch “Shots at the Shop,” an initiative that will engage Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons across the country to support local vaccine education and outreach efforts. Throughout the month of June, each participating shop will engage customers with information about the vaccines, display educational materials, and host on-site vaccination events in partnership with local providers. The “Shots at the Shop” initiative will invite participation from across the country, with a particular focus on supporting shops in some of the hardest-hit localities still experiencing significant gaps in vaccination rates.
• Blanketing Local TV and Radio and Social Media to Get Americans the Facts and Answer Their Questions: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), representing more than 7,000 TV and radio stations across the country, will have local station members participate in the National Month of Action. NAB members will be airing vaccine education segments in their programming featuring trusted voices from the community, as well as medical professionals from leading medical associations across the country, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Hospital Association, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and Primary Care Collaborative. Medical experts will have the opportunity to share information on benefits of vaccination, address questions and concerns, and publicize where individuals in the community can get vaccinated. And, the Administration will continue deploying medical experts, public health leaders, and Cabinet officials through a whole-of-government approach to communicate directly with Americans, including by working with social media platforms and engaging celebrities and influencers to reach people where they are.
• COVID-19 College Challenge: The Administration is launching the COVID-19 College Challenge, where colleges and universities can take a pledge and commit to taking action to get their students and communities vaccinated by going to WhiteHouse.gov/COVIDCollegeChallenge and signing up. As part of the challenge, the Administration will provide resources like training sessions, toolkits, and educational material to assist colleges and universities in vaccination efforts; facilitate on-site vaccinations at schools; and launch a student corps within the COVID-19 Community Corps to recognize and activate students across the country who are taking extraordinary efforts to draw young people out to get vaccinated and engage the youth community. More than 200 colleges in 43 states have already taken the pledge and committed to the COVID-19 College Challenge. This challenge builds on the Administration’s work to facilitate partnerships between more than 60 community colleges and pharmacies in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program to provide pop-up vaccination clinics at high-enrollment community colleges between now and July 4^th

INCENTIVIZING VACCINATION

Business Incentives for Vaccinated Americans: Thousands of employers and businesses have already stepped up to support vaccination efforts, including by offering incentives for vaccinations and providing their workers paid-leave for vaccinations. During the Month of Action, the Administration will continue working with employers to make it even easier to set up workplace vaccination clinics, and call on more businesses to encourage and incentivize vaccinations.

Starting today, Americans will be able to find a list of these and other incentives on Vaccines.gov/incentives.html. Examples of new private sector actions and incentives that recently launched include:

• Anheuser-Busch will give away free beer to all adults over the age of 21 in America on July 4^th to celebrate the country’s progress against COVID.
• CVS launched a sweepstakes for vaccinated people to win free cruises, tickets to Super Bowl LVI, and cash prizes.
• Door Dash will give $2 million in gift cards to the National Association of Community Health Centers to incentivize vaccinations.
• Major League Baseball teams will offer on-site vaccinations at games and give free tickets to those who get vaccinated.
• Microsoft will give away thousands of Xboxes to Boys and Girls Clubs in hard-hit areas who will run promotions and educational seminars about the importance of vaccinations in hard-hit and hard-to-reach communities.
• Kroger launched a “Community Immunity” program to give $1 million to a vaccinated person every week in June and give dozens of vaccinated Americans free groceries for a year.
• United Airlines launched the “Your Shot to Fly” Sweepstakes for Mileage Plus members to win a year of free flights or a roundtrip for two in any class of service.

A Tool to Build Vaccine Confidence in Rural Communities

The White House created an infographic to outline how the COVID-19 vaccine helps to protect your rural community and yourself.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and here now. Strong confidence in the vaccines within communities will lead to more people getting vaccinated, which will lead to fewer COVID-related illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told Axios during a virtual event that many Americans are “misinterpreting” the CDC’s new mask guidance, which lets vaccinated individuals forego masks indoors. “I think people are misinterpreting, thinking that this is a removal of a mask mandate for everyone. It’s not. It’s an assurance to those who are vaccinated that they can feel safe, be they outdoors or indoors. It’s not their fault,” Fauci added. “People either read them quickly or listen and hear half of it. They are feeling that we’re saying: ‘You don’t need the mask anymore.’ That’s not what the CDC said. They said: If you are vaccinated, you can feel safe — that you will not get infected either outdoors or indoors. It did not explicitly say that unvaccinated people should abandon their masks.” Fauci also said Americans will likely need a COVID-19 vaccine booster: “I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so, after getting the primary [shot], because the durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS), under which the health and other professional licensure boards fall, says it has received many questions from licensed professionals about what happens to the licensing waivers if the COVID-19 emergency disaster declaration is ended. DOS has issued nearly 100 temporary waivers under authority granted by the Governor’s declaration of a disaster emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. The goal with these waivers was to respond to the extraordinary circumstances of the last year by allowing licensees to continue practicing or training in their professions. DOS accomplished this by temporarily eliminating several administrative barriers, such as allowing for online distance learning to qualify for continuing education credits, extending licensing renewal deadlines and permitting additional medical professionals to participate in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Per DOS, when the disaster declaration ends, the authority to grant these waivers will expire and they will no longer be in effect. For example, if you are a medical practitioner using telemedicine for patient appointments, you may not be able to continue that practice when the temporary waiver no longer exists. Or, if you are a dentist, podiatrist or respiratory therapist who has been given authority to administer COVID-19 vaccines under the DOS waivers, that authority will expire, and you will no longer be able to assist in the vaccination effort. With Gov. Wolf’s renewal yesterday of the disaster declaration, all waivers currently remain in effect.

Modern HealthCare reports that Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the agency is considering extending the deadline of when providers must spend relief funds.

May 18 was primary election day in Pennsylvania. Key in this election were the ballot questions, two of which will change the way disaster emergency declarations work in the commonwealth. The two, separate ballot questions will insert into the Pennsylvania Constitution provisions that: (1) limit disaster emergency declarations to no more than 21 days; and (2) prevent the governor from issuing a new disaster emergency declaration “based upon the same or substantially similar facts and circumstances” without the passage of a concurrent resolution by the General Assembly expressly approving the new disaster emergency declaration. Results show that both ballot questions were passed to provide the power to the legislature, instead of the Governor. We do not know how soon after the election is certified that these new rules go into effect and what the outcome will be. On May 7, 2021, the governor renewed his Proclamation of Disaster Emergency due to the opioid crisis for 90 days. The Governor renewed the emergency declaration for another 90 days this week. The renewal carries with it the power to waive certain requirements, such as those that made visits via telehealth possible during the public health emergency. Click here for the election results.

Pennsylvania Department of Health Acting Secretary Alison Beam announced that the commonwealth’s mask order for fully vaccinated individuals reflects the announcement made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On March 16, 2021, the commonwealth amended the commonwealth’s mask order by adding language directing to the CDC’s guidance for fully vaccinated people allowing for no face coverings in many settings. That means that the CDC guidelines automatically goes into effect in Pennsylvania. Masking requirements will remain in place for unvaccinated individuals until 70 percent of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. For more information on the CDC guidance, visit here.

During the Senate Appropriations Labor Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing title, “Review of the FY2022 Budget Blueprint for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) questioned CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on the need to establish an Office of Rural Health within the CDC. She notes that COVID-19 has highlighted health disparities for rural Americans and asks how CDC and Congress could work together to establish this new office. Establishing an Office of Rural Health within the CDC is one of NRHA’s priority appropriations requests, so we commend Senator Hyde-Smith for her questions and comments during the hearing and publishing this statement on the need for establishing such an office.