The “Little CATE” mobile vaccination clinic
Dauphin County is rolling out a new effort to reach the area’s most vulnerable residents.
On Tuesday, county officials announced a new mobile unit that will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to the area’s homeless population.
“We have to meet people in all levels of services […] where people are at,” Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick said.
The “Little CATE” unit is a smaller version of the Latino Connection’s Community Accessible Testing and Education (CATE) mobile unit, which has provided testing and vaccinations to underserved communities throughout the pandemic, explained Jean Cubilette, junior program director for Latino Connection. This smaller version will also be managed by Latino Connection and focused on removing barriers to vaccinations for the homeless population.
The county and Latino Connection are partnering with Highmark and Penn State Health to provide and administer the Moderna vaccine.
According to Kathleen McKenzie, vice president of community affairs at Highmark, they hope that the mobile unit will remove transportation, access and language barriers. Everyone working on the mobile unit is bilingual, she said.
Hartwick also explained how important education will be in their efforts. He said that they are aware that many people in the population they are serving are hesitant to receive the vaccine.
“We have to understand that there’s a significant amount of cynicism and mistrust related to system involvement,” he said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there about vaccinations, which we need to clear up. It’ll be an uphill battle we fight.”
Vaccine providers have received training on how to address the concerns that people may have, Hartwick said.
The county is working with local organizations like Bethesda Mission, Downtown Daily Bread and the Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness to leverage the relationships they have already established with homeless residents, he added.
The mobile unit will travel around Dauphin County from June through August, making around 30 stops. So far, they have stops planned through the end of June including locations in Elizabethville, Harrisburg and Millersburg.
Funds for the initiative came through an Emergency Solutions Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
“This is another example of the collaboration and commitment we have to serving all residents of this county,” Hartwick said.
For more information about the Community Accessible Testing and Education (CATE) unit, visit their website.
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