4 Historically Black Medical Schools Receive $6 Million for Vaccination Efforts

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced this week that it would give more than $6 million collectively to four historically Black medical schools to foster efforts to administer Covid-19 vaccines in their local communities. The money will support the schools’ mobile vaccination units, which are temporary vaccine clinics set up at places such as churches and senior centers, the organization said.

The Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta, will receive $2.1 million, the largest portion of the grant. The money will allow the medical school to “upgrade its mobile medical unit, pay for additional staffing and medical supplies, and increase community outreach,” a news release said. “The program will focus on Southwest and Southeast Atlanta, where the population is 92 percent Black and many residents do not have access to equitable care, adequate transportation, internet access, or health insurance.”

Another part of the grant, $1.6 million, will go to Howard University’s College of Medicine. The university said in its announcement that it had already vaccinated 25,000 people in the Washington, D.C., area since December. But Wayne A.I. Frederick, Howard’s president, said in the news release that “there are still many more who have struggled to access the vaccine and continue to be at greater risk.”

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, in Los Angeles, will also receive $1.6 million, The Washington Post reported, and Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, will receive $869,000.

The pandemic has disproportionately hurt Black Americans, but they are underrepresented among the vaccinated population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The grant comes from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, which seeks to “accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the United States and address decades of systemic underinvestment in Black communities,” its announcement said.