Availability of and Obstacles to Providing COVID-19 Vaccinations at Syringe Services Programs in the United States, 2021

Many syringe services programs (SSPs) have established trusting, long-term relationships with their clients and are well situated to provide COVID-19 vaccinations. We examined characteristics and practices of SSPs in the United States that reported providing COVID-19 vaccinations to their clients an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health reports (1974) 2022-11, Vol.137 (6), p.1066-1069
Main Authors: Des Jarlais, Don C., Behrends, Czarina N., Corcorran, Maria A., Glick, Sara N., Perlman, David C., Kapadia, Shashi N., Lu, Xinlin, Feelemyer, Jonathan, LaKosky, Paul, Prohaska, Stephanie M., Schackman, Bruce R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Barriers
Brief Report
Clients
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 Vaccines
Hepatitis
HIV
HIV Infections - prevention & control
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Immunization
Influenza
Needle-Exchange Programs
Public health
Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications
Syringes
United States - epidemiology
Vaccination
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Summary:Many syringe services programs (SSPs) have established trusting, long-term relationships with their clients and are well situated to provide COVID-19 vaccinations. We examined characteristics and practices of SSPs in the United States that reported providing COVID-19 vaccinations to their clients and obstacles to vaccinating people who inject drugs (PWID). We surveyed SSPs in September 2021 to examine COVID-19 vaccination practices through a supplement to the 2020 Dave Purchase Memorial survey. Of 153 SSPs surveyed, 73 (47.7%) responded to the supplement; 24 of 73 (32.9%) reported providing on-site COVID-19 vaccinations. Having provided hepatitis and influenza vaccinations was significantly associated with providing COVID-19 vaccinations (70.8% had provided them vs 28.6% had not; P = .002). Obstacles to providing vaccination included lack of appropriate facilities, lack of funding, lack of trained staff, and vaccine hesitancy among PWID. SSPs are underused as vaccination providers. Many SSPs are well situated to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to PWID, and greater use of SSPs as vaccination providers is needed.
ISSN:0033-3549
1468-2877
1468-2877
DOI:10.1177/00333549221120241