LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Metro will prioritize the city's homeless population while distributing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Mayor Greg Fischer announced Tuesday.
The Department of Public Health and Wellness received its first shipment of 1,500 doses of the Janssen vaccine last week. Those vials will be used to vaccine people in the city's hard-to-reach populations like those experiencing homelessness or homebound seniors.
Bill Wagner, CEO of Family Health Centers, said they began administering the vaccine to homeless populations Tuesday. While they were unsure of how the vaccine would be received, Wagner said most of the people they approached were interested in receiving the shot.
Organizations dedicated to helping the homeless are working with providers to make sure they can not only meet the population where they are, but deliver trust.
"We’ve got a lot of partners, and it’s going to take a lot of us working together," Wagner said. "They don’t work by the same timeclock or schedule as we do. We have to be flexible and meet them where they are, and we’ll be successful."
Erin Rutherford with the Coalition for the Homeless they will start offering vaccines at Salvation Army and Wayside Christian Mission next week before moving to smaller overnight and dayside shelters. After that, they will work to vaccinate those at feeding sites and encampments.
Nurses have conducted more than 2,000 tests at homeless shelters in the last eight weeks. Delanor Manson, CEO of the Kentucky Nurses Association, said the work has helped educate the homeless about the vaccine and provide nurses with the chance to work with people they might not have otherwise.
Fischer said the effort to vaccine the city's homeless population is vital to making sure every person in Louisville is protected.
“The Janssen vaccine has been highly effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19,” the Mayor said. “It will simplify scheduling and logistics to get more shots in arms to some of our more vulnerable populations. “We know what we’re up against. Now we have effective tools to defend against this virus to help us get closer every day to beating and eliminating COVID-19.”
Speaking to those vulnerable populations, Mayor Fischer said that these efforts are important because the city has a responsibility to protect everyone that lives in Louisville.
“We have to do all we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our homeless population just like we do among every other segment of our population,” Fischer said. “We need to do all we can to prevent them from falling ill and potentially dying from this disease.”
More than 247,750 total vaccine doses have been given in Louisville since December.
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