COVID-19 vaccinations expand to the homeless community

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) As of March 15, Santa Cruz County is offering COVID-19 vaccines to homeless residents. They are part of the next group eligible for the vaccine, which includes people with high-risk medical conditions.

At San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz, unhoused residents say they are happy to hear the news they are next in line for vaccines.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, it’s where you should’ve really done it before because theres so many people packed in here, sign me up, put me in the front of the line," says Gabriel, a community member living at the San Lorenzo Park encampment.

Others at the encampment say having vaccines would help reduce the risk and fear of an outbreak in their communities.

“You can see that our community is very close, we do try to stay 6 feet apart but I think it’s really important for us, we don’t want it to be an outbreak here because that would just spread to all of Santa Cruz,” says Colleen English.

County community health organizations like Homeless Persons Health Project have begun outreach to local homeless communities providing COVID-19 education and letting people know where and when they can get their shot.

“We give them the facts of what’s in the clinical trials, the data...we already have clinics that run every Tuesday and Thursday morning at our clinic site and I mean, we have appointments available even tomorrow," says Joey Crottogini with HPHP.

Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer Doctor David Ghilarducci tells KION there is currently a remaining supply of around 400 vaccine doses that will be aimed for the homeless community.

“One area that’s really become kind of urgent is there’s this large encampment on the intersection of highway 9 and highway 1 and CalTrans is getting ready to do some significant road work there, we felt there is some urgency to get as many of them vaccinated as possible before they disperse elsewhere," says Doctor Ghilarducci.

Both HPHP and Doctor Ghilarducci say Johnson & Johnson is the ideal vaccine for the homeless community as it is sometimes a hard to reach group.

They say administering the single-dose shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine means it will be more accessible to the homeless and they won't have to track down a person for a second dose.

Doctor Ghilarducci says groups are also reaching out to those living in shelters.

Homeless Persons Health Project says anyone needing resources or information can call (831) 454-2082