Above: Zufall Health Staff Nurse Graciela Levisac, RN, provides a vaccination to Morristown health fair event attendee in 2024.

Two-year initiative prioritizes underserved populations, including people experiencing homelessness

Zufall Health announced today it was one of 10 recipients of a two-year grant award from Direct Relief, with support from Sanofi, focused on respiratory health in historically undersupported communities. 

Zufall is using the funding to launch the “Vaccination Campaign for Championing Respiratory Health,” a system-wide effort to expand access to vaccines that prevent respiratory illnesses: influenza, pneumococcal disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough). 

The campaign will increase vaccination opportunities for both Zufall’s 50,000 patients spanning seven counties and for unhoused individuals in Morris and Somerset counties. By September 2027, Zufall projects administering more than 40,000 respiratory vaccine doses to low-income and underserved patients at no cost, regardless of insurance status. Immunizations will be provided both in its offices and through community outreach. 

“The number of people who can benefit from vaccination far exceeds what our primary care providers can accommodate during regular visits. Vaccine clinics in the community offer a direct way to expand access without adding pressure to appointments,” explained Fran Palm, Zufall’s President and CEO. “We’ve refined this model over many years. It requires minimal equipment and allows us to reach large numbers of patients quickly.” 

About 9% of Zufall patients are unhoused and therefore present with increased incidence and severity of respiratory conditions because of significant barriers to care, higher rates of exposure to environmental pollutants and infectious diseases, and comorbid health conditions. To prioritize vaccinations for this population, Zufall will deploy its Mobile Medical to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and encampments. The team will build on lessons from its Somerset County Street Medicine program, which delivers care in the field and connects patients to ongoing services.

Feeding Hands, a food pantry in Hillsborough, NJ, is one venue where Zufall staff, including Leonor Salgado (left), will bring vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness. Salgado and her team work closely with community leaders like Lois Bennett, the pantry’s executive director, to best serve unhoused individuals and other vulnerable populations.

“Vaccination is proven to dramatically reduce hospitalization, serious illness, and death from preventable respiratory conditions,” said Rina Ramirez, Zufall’s Chief Medical Officer. “Expanding our patients’ awareness of evidence-based vaccine guidelines and combating misinformation will also be a central focus of our campaign.”

Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity mobilizes financial resources for community health centers, free and charitable clinics, and other nonprofit organizations focused on non-clinical interventions that affect a person’s health – commonly known as the social determinants of health. These factors include a person’s physical, social, cultural, and economic environments. 

“Respiratory conditions, including asthma, disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. These funds will directly support organizations working to address and prevent these life-altering conditions,” said Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Direct Relief’s President and Chief Operating Officer and Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity. “I am humbled that both Sanofi and Direct Relief can help these organizations with their goals of improving the health of people seeking care.”

Sanofi’s donation is part of the company’s “Breathe Easier” campaign, which focuses on the intersection of the environment and human health, and supports communities experiencing a high burden of respiratory illness. Grants were provided to 10 community health centers in three U.S. states—Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—where the biopharma company has a significant presence. The other recipients are: 

• Brockton Neighborhood Health Center – Brockton, MA 

• Codman Square Health Center – Dorchester, MA 

• Holyoke Health Center – Holyoke, MA 

• Greater Lawrence Family Health Center – Methuen, MA 

• Caring Health Center – Springfield, MA 

• Henry J. Austin Health Center – Trenton, NJ 

• Valley Health Partners – Allentown, PA 

• Delaware Valley Community Health – Philadelphia, PA 

• Spectrum Foundation for Health Equity and Community Impact – Philadelphia, PA 

“We are proud to support Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity and the 10 centers that will lead the way in improving respiratory care in many communities,” said Diana Blankman, Head of U.S. Corporate Social Responsibility at Sanofi. “We strongly believe in the development of community-based solutions by those who know best how to provide culturally relevant care to the patients they serve.”