After nearly a year of lockdowns, shutdowns, economic struggles, social distancing, quarantine, and social isolation, COVID-19 vaccinations are now within reach. However, this long sought-after remedy to the global pandemic does not arrive without significant logistical considerations and practice-based conundrums. COVID-19 has forced the unique merger of public health interventions within the context of traditional systems of medical care. A consequence of this merger is that healthcare entities are now left with more new questions versus clarity regarding a path forward. The logistics of vaccine deployment are hardly a straight and obvious path forward, and instead health systems have to now respond to key process-related questions connected to staffing, to economic cost, to emerging liability, to IT infrastructure builds, to supply chains and storage of the vaccine. Add to this providers have to overcome compromised mental health and entrenched distrust of healthcare. PCPs, FQHCs and other community-based programs will be on the frontlines managing these types of operational concerns to include how each will engage patients, especially those with vaccine hesitancy. This webinar aims to further identify and illuminate these logistical and practice-based challenges as we collectively enter this next COVID-related milestone of vaccine deployment.   

Speakers

Lee Westgate, MBA, MSW, LCSW-C
Brian Wharton MSN, RN, CPEN, CPST

Disclosure(s)

The staff and faculty involved with the planning of today’s event do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. The MidAtlantic AIDS Education and Training Center does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services. The representations and opinions expressed in this presentation are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent the views or policies of MA AETC, the University of Pittsburgh, or its funding agencies.

The speakers have no conflicts of interest to disclose.