To boost Covid-19 vaccine uptake, one health system hunts for patients who fell through the cracks
As public health leaders double down on their efforts to get shots to the 30% of eligible people in the U.S. that remain unvaccinated, one health center has described a unique strategy to reach those who might have fallen through the cracks.
During the early days of vaccine rollout, “we realized that the vast majority of this communication was being done either by email or by MyChart messaging,” said Jacob Stein, an oncologist at the University of North Carolina’s N. C. Cancer Hospital. But relying on digital communication can leave some patients behind. Older people might be less likely to frequently check online patient portals. Rural residents could have limited internet access. And many patients don’t own a device to check up on providers’ messages.
