On Mar. 25, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the investment of $10 billion from the American Rescue Plan to ramp up screening testing to help schools reopen, $2.25 billion to scale up testing in underserved populations, and provide new

Equity is at the center of the Administration’s COVID-19 response. The President has set up federally-run community vaccination centers in hard-hit areas; sent vaccines directly to local pharmacies and Community Health Centers that disproportionately serve vulnerable populations; launched hundreds of mobile clinics to meet people where they are; and created the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

These actions are garnering initial results. In the past two months, 60 percent of doses at federally-run Community Vaccination sites were administered to people of color. In the federal retail pharmacy program, 45 percent of sites were located in zip codes with high social vulnerability scores – a CDC index that uses 15 U.S. census variables to identify communities that may need support. Finally, over 65 percent of the federal doses allocated to Community Health Centers have been administered to people of color.