The number of vaccinated people in New London County is on the rise, thanks to several local outreach efforts and increased funding.

Vaccination clinics are being held at local parks, housing complexes, churches, food distribution sites, basketball tournaments, school events, fairs and festivals and even farmers’ markets.

“Our team of Community Ambassadors is out in the community every day connecting with folks and providing them with information about the vaccine and answering questions,” said Jennifer Muggeo, Ledge Light Health District deputy director, in an email. “Ambassadors also do focused outreach in neighborhoods when there is a nearby clinic happening to let people know that if they are ready to get vaccinated right now we’re happy to see them!”

Vaccination efforts have been given a boost by the state’s Vaccine Equity Partnership Funding program and separate grants received by Uncas Health District and Ledge Light Health District.

The four-month grant that began May 1 and runs through Aug. 30 has enabled LLHD to partner with Community Health Center, Inc., Thames Valley Council for Community Action and the Health Education Center.

“We also work with the DPH/Griffin Vans in order to increase the number of pop-up clinics where the Pfizer vaccine is offered,” Muggeo said, noting the the health district itself administers only the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Uncas Health District is partnering with United Community & Family Services and TVCCA.

“We expanded to include other agencies which aren’t funded by the grant but still are doing the same work,” UHD Director Patrick McCormack said during a telephone interview. These organizations include Hartford Healthcare, Backus Hospital, Generations Family Health Center and Norwich Human Services.

UHD’s outreach approaches include door-to-door surveys, canvassing local businesses/housing complexes, resource fairs and over 1,000 phone inquiries. Catching busy people at Dairy Queen, Dixie Donuts, a package store, food distribution events and recreational programs have proved successful, McCormack said.

Their goal: Ascertain why people are not getting vaccinated. Is it because they don’t have access to the vaccine? Or, are they hesitant, and if so, why?

Once they know the need, they offer education, neighborhood clinics and homebound vaccinations, Jon-Paul Mandelburg, director of housing programs for TVCCA, said in an email.

Reasons people have given for not wanting the vaccine have included concerns over its safety and wondering if it really works, Yolanda Bowes, director of patient experience at UCFS said during a telephone interview. She added TVCCA and UHD developed a flyer “that sort of explains information about the MRNA vaccine so that people have the facts.”

In addition to having outreach workers who speak Haitian Creole and Spanish, Bowes said they also have educational materials in both of these languages, as well as English.

“We just want to make sure that we are spreading accurate information,” Bowes said. “We may change people’s minds. We may not, but at least they can make a more informed decision. They can talk to someone that is from their culture that they maybe have a little bit more trust with.”

Other explanations people have given for not getting the vaccine have included being too busy to get the shot and concerns over getting sick afterwards, missing work and not being able to take care of their children while ill, McCormack said. Unvaccinated people are encouraged to get the shot on a Friday, so they can be home in case they feel sick over the weekend and then more than likely be back at work on Monday, he added.

Some individuals received one dose, but didn’t believe they needed a second dose.

As of Aug. 4, nearly 91 percent of people 65-plus were fully vaccinated in Norwich, compared to 81.67 percent on May 7, according to information provided by McCormack. Those same dates reflected an uptick from 46.34 to 67.02 percent for individuals between 45 and 64. Also, 34.1 percent of children between 12 and 15 and 44.1 percent of residents between 16 and 44 had been vaccinated.

These statistics do not include people living in licensed community settings, such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities and correctional facilities, McCormack said.

Numbers of mostly unvaccinated people hospitalized in New London County with the virus fluctuated in early-to-almost-mid-August between 21 and 11. Most were between the ages of 20 and 29.

To continue to deliver services to people, TVCCA has “pivoted” its approach since March 2020, Mandelburg said. “For example, conducting services and eligibility determinations remotely via phone, online portals, mail, email, etc. We’ve had employees intentionally engaged in the community at existing events as we ‘open up’ again, i.e. farmers markets, UniteCT mobile sites, food distribution events, etc. to broadcast services available within TVCCA’s standard array of services as well as through additional resources,” including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

He said TVCCA is also assisting with the distribution of American Rescue Plan Act funds and increasing “efforts to tailor services to who we are serving, bearing in mind logistical barriers such as transportation, work schedules, etc. in order to provide services remotely or within the community.”

Mandelburg said TVCCA is also “employing staff” that represents “the communities we serve, enabling us to provide support in the native languages of and with cultural humility for our service recipients.”

Since TVCCA is funded by the Connecticut Department of Housing and is also a recipient of local, private funds, he said it can “help local households” with rent arrearages and prospective rent, so they can “exit homelessness, and/or avoid it altogether.”

For more information about rates of COVID-19 and Delta infections in New London County and the latest guidance from Governor Ned Lamont, go to the Uncas Health District’s Facebook page. The district serves 100,575 residents in Bozrah, Franklin, Griswold, Lebanon, Lisbon, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Sprague and Voluntown.