The federal government announced the launch of a program to provide more vaccines to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), according to a news release from the White House.
The program will be phased in, with the first centers able to start ordering vaccines from the federal government as early as the week of February 15. The initial phase will include at least one community health center in each state, expanding to 250 centers in the coming weeks, the White House said.
There are more than 1,300 FQHCs serving almost 30 million people across the country. Two-thirds of the population that these centers serve are living at or below the federal poverty line and 60 percent are racial and/or ethnic minorities, according to the White House.
