BATON ROUGE, La. – March 15, 2021 – This week Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and community partners are announcing two initiatives based on recent recommendations from the EBR Health Equity Vaccine Taskforce.
At-Home Vaccine Initiative
Beginning this week, Mayor Broome, the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging, the Louisiana Department of Health, HealthyBR, and the East Baton Rouge Parish Emergency Medical Services will begin providing at-home COVID-19 vaccines to homebound clients with the Meals on Wheels program in East Baton Rouge Parish. The EBR Emergency Medical Services will administer the vaccines in coordination with the EBR Council on Aging, which is doing outreach to their Meals on Wheels clients. The Louisiana Department of Health is providing an allotment of vaccines for the initiative on a week-by-week basis.
“This partnership is an outgrowth of the EBR Health Equity Vaccine Taskforce which recently released recommendations for greater equity in the vaccination process for East Baton Rouge Parish. Increasing equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine in our underserved communities is essential to protecting our most vulnerable residents while helping to end the pandemic in Baton Rouge,” said Mayor Broome. “In the near future we also plan to connect with underserved communities through various methods like phone banking and door-to-door outreach to make residents aware of vaccine opportunities.”
"We are overjoyed at the roll-out of the At-Home Vaccination Initiative! Our Homebound Seniors and Meals on Wheels recipients do not have the means to attend our pop-up clinics, but they still have a desire to be vaccinated and feel protected from COVID-19. They have not been forgotten!" said Tasha Clark-Amar, CEO of the EBR Council on Aging.
The initiative will have the capacity to vaccinate dozens of seniors a week.
#COVIDTalesBR Web Series
Mayor Broome is announcing the launch of #COVIDTalesBR a web series hosted by HealthyBR where panelists will engage in a virtual discussion regarding the impact of COVID-19, the importance of vaccinations and testing. This Thursday, March 18, at 6:00 p.m. will be the first episode titled: What’s the 411?: A Serious Discussion on COVID-19 Vaccinations and Testing. The panel discussion will be streamed LIVE on the HealthyBR’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/healthybr) or on the HealthyBR YouTube Chanel (www.youtube.com/healthybr).
Mayor Broome will be joined by Vaccine Activist Nurse Carla Brown; Dr. Byron Jasper of Byja Clinic; Raegan Carter of Louisiana Primary Care Association; Nicole Thomas, DNP, RN of Impact Nurse Consulting; and Courtney Scott, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Baton Rouge. The goal of this web series is to educate the community on the topics related to the Covid-19 vaccine and mitigation efforts needed to end the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the topics to be discussed include:
- Access and equity of vaccine availability
- Facts vs. myths about vaccination
- How to talk to your friends and family about COVID-19 and the vaccine
- How to operate in a partially vaccinated world
Community residents can submit their own questions to be answered by our experts by emailing Healthybr@brla.gov.