Kilmer Announces Over $15 Million in American Rescue Plan Funding for Regional Community Health Centers to Expand Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
Tacoma, WA – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) announced that three Northwest Washington Community Health Centers will receive a total of over $15 million in American Rescue Plan funds to expand their COVID-19 vaccination and treatment operations. The resources are part of the American Rescue Plan’s investments to expand access to vaccines in underserved communities.
Northwest Washington-based federal community health centers receiving funds include:
- Community Health Care in Tacoma: $7,901,000
- North Olympic Healthcare Network in Port Angeles: $1,843,125
- Peninsula Community Health Services in Bremerton: $5,613,375
“Community health centers across our region have been providing critical support to folks throughout this pandemic. Now as they work to ramp-up COVID-19 vaccination efforts, new federal funding from the American Rescue Plan will help bolster their efforts to ensure we get as many shots in as many arms, as quickly as possible,” said Rep. Kilmer. “It’s just one of the reasons I was proud to support the American Rescue Plan. With this help, we can save lives and begin to recover from this health and economic crisis.”
The health centers can use the funding to expand COVID-19 vaccinations, testing and treatment for vulnerable populations; deliver preventive and primary health care services to people at higher risk for COVID-19; and expand health centers’ operational capacity during the pandemic and beyond, including modifying and improving physical infrastructure and adding mobile units.
Kilmer visited Peninsula Community Health Services in Bremerton on March 12 to see their operations firsthand and talk about how critical new support from the American Rescue Plan will help the COVID-19 vaccination effort.