Borough municipalities plan to take advantage of a grant program offered by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to assist with COVID-19 testing and vaccine administration. Funding requests were due earlier this month and funding is expected to be awarded by March 31. The funds must be used between March 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022 and are available on a reimbursement basis.

According to DHSS’ website, the state has about $37.5 million available for the program, which will be distributed through Memorandums of Agreement to borough and city governments. The program requires 10% of funds to be allocated to health equity efforts in each community, which they define as everyone having a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

“We are asking communities to address health disparities by focusing on population groups that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to external social factors and systemic inequities,” the program website reads.

Kenai

The City of Kenai is eligible for up to about $327,000, though Kenai Fire Chief Tony Prior said he doesn’t think they will need all of that money to offer their programs. Those programs include continuing to offer the vaccine clinics they’ve been administering and using an ambulance for a mobile vaccine unit that would allow people with mobility issues to be vaccinated in their home.

Kenai is also planning to work with the commercial fishing community to vaccinate seasonal workers when they arrive for work this summer, though Prior said the details of that program haven’t been completely fleshed out.

Prior said in terms of continuing to assist with large scale clinics, he thinks they’ve met their saturation point and will probably look at offering smaller clinics in the future.

“It seems like we’re having a little bit more of a harder time booking all our appointments now when we set up a larger scale clinic,” Prior said. “We’re trying to set up more of the smaller scale clinics — 50 or under — and seem to be having a little bit better luck booking those appointments.”

Soldotna

In her report to the Soldotna City Council during their March 17 meeting, Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen outlined similar programs she thinks the city could offer with their roughly $200,000 in funding available.

That report described contracting with local vaccine providers to establish an in-home vaccination program to increase accessibility and to set up “pop-up” vaccine clinics in high-traffic areas that could accommodate walk-in patients.

“Both programs would aim to make it very easy for residents who want a vaccine to get one, by removing barriers such as advance registration, computer access to sign up for appointments, and transportation,” Queen wrote in the report.

Queen said Monday that the city will be working over the next few weeks to solidify exact plans for the funding.

Kenai Peninsula Borough

The Kenai Peninsula Borough also applied for the program.

Including unincorporated communities, the six incorporated cities and a $300,000 adjustment, the borough in total was determined to be eligible to be reimbursed for up to about $2.9 million, according to state documentation. That includes $1.77 million for the borough’s unincorporated communities plus the adjustment for areawide activities, and about $925,500 for the incorporated cities. The six cities may submit their applications directly to the state.

Borough Community & Fiscal Projects Manager Brenda Ahlberg said Monday that the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will vote on the legislation outlining what programs they will launch with the funds during their April 6 meeting. Ahlberg also noted that the program is a reimbursement program and that the funds are not available up front.

“Any kind of contract that we push forward we’ll have to go through our purchasing process,” Ahlberg said.

Some of the programs outlined in the legislation that the assembly will vote on next month, she said, include extending vaccine clinic site hours so that people can be vaccinated after work, setting up mobile vaccine clinics, establishing a public information campaign and offering travel vouchers to help people access clinics, among other things.

More information about DHSS’ COVID-19 Community Funding grant program can be found at dhss.alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.