So far, everyone who has gotten the COVID vaccine has been eager to get it.
As we’re already starting to see in parts of the country, though, the amount of vaccines available will quickly exceed the number of people wanting to get them. This is an entirely different challenge than what we’ve seen so far, and it’s one that is far more complex than manufacturing vaccines.
This challenge requires us to reach out to communities and citizens that don’t have easy access to vaccination sites, can’t take off work, don’t know about the research done to verify the safety of the vaccine, don’t speak the language and/or aren’t tech-savvy.
Who are the experts in dealing with these issues? Pediatricians.
They deal with them every single day. Parents are nervous about an article they saw online. About the chemicals going into their kids body. About the pain that vaccines inflict on their loved ones. About the frustration of being forced to take off work to bring your kids to get their shots.
They’ve seen it all.
They are also integral parts of their own communities. They’ve spent years building trusted relationships with kids and their parents. They are locally accessible. They can speak the language.
You may be thinking: but pediatricians are for kids. They might be providing treatment for kids, but they primarily work with adults to discuss and make treatment decisions. They are already our frontline experts for addressing vaccines and vaccine hesitancy. This is the moment we need them most - the issues around vaccine accessibility and hesitancy are much worse for kids than they are for parents. Pediatricians are an opportunity to engage directly where fear is the highest, and with the bonus that it’s far more convenient to vaccinate your whole family all at once.
We are currently leaving pediatricians out of our COVID strategy
The problem is that, as of today, pediatricians have played virtually zero part in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. They’re in the dark, isolated, stonewalled. They’re eager to help, yet nobody’s asking. They’re not even getting vaccines! Instead the people giving the vaccines are those that have no context on the patient, nor understand the complexities of hesitancy. As we’ve seen in other parts of the world, those mass vaccination sites don’t stand a chance!
A new type of pediatric alliance
At Canid, we’re uniting pediatricians from all over New York under a single system, so pediatricians don’t have to worry about the operations of running a vaccine program, and they can focus on the kids.
Canid provides the technology and operational support that pediatricians need, from inventory management, to scheduling technology, to insurance verification, to billing, to reporting vaccination information to the CDC and the state. Our all-in-one tool enables providers to, without changing anything in their core practice, give COVID-19 vaccines easily and automatically. We’re providing this support for free to those that join us on our mission to vaccinate all of New York.
So far, we’ve started working with 20 pediatric practices representing 100+ pediatric physicians and nurses to prepare for the storm. Pediatricians working with us give, on a daily basis, vaccines that rival the volume of the Javits center already.
Stronger, together
There’s power in numbers, though. We want to work with more pediatricians to ensure that we get a seat at the table with the entities that are aiding the distribution of the vaccine. That’s why we’re calling on you: the pediatricians, nurses, and members of our communities who give vaccines to our future generations, to be the heroes that we need for this final step in overcoming this huge societal challenge.
