The Opportunity

The Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

December 2020

• Prior to Ichor’s involvement, this leading healthcare retailer struggled to identify specific access barriers and drivers of hesitancy for vaccination in several densely populated, critical areas throughout the US.
• Ichor researched the drivers of health inequity, medical mistrust, health messaging, and city-based social determinants of health (e.g., insurance coverage, median household income, access to broadband, access to personal vehicles or transportation, etc.).
• Using GIS capabilities, Ichor analyzed the social determinants of health indicators to understand where access was the primary issue, then identified gaps in the client’s vaccination locations. 

January 2021

• Ichor drove internal company alignment by creating teams of multidisciplinary community engagement leads in each key market.
• Ichor also identified the most trusted and influential community voices in each key market.
• We then engaged with local leaders, community health providers, activists, grassroots organizations, and religious institutions to understand community and culturally-specific pain points. 

February-April 2021

• Ichor hosted community dialogues focused on populations ages 65+ to understand their unique challenges and build relationships with local organizations and religious institutions that were trusted by and serve this population.  
• Ichor also launched community dialogues focused on Black and Latinx communities in priority neighborhoods to establish lines of communication with trusted messengers and understand the nuances of each community.
• Using quantitative data and qualitative insights, we prioritized neighborhoods in which we could make the largest impact and activated vaccination locations and pop-ups to address access issues.
• We developed community-specific, long-term engagement plans, and refined the client’s messaging to more directly address vaccine hesitancy, access to accurate vaccine information, and vaccination sites.
• Ichor led internal company strategy sessions to kick-start the implementation of the community engagement plans and then created “activation trackers” to allow the client to continue pushing forth the model for engagement by identifying resources, listing opportunities for partnership and insights, recommending next steps from priority partners, etc. 

May-June 2021

• We debuted adjustments to the client’s national vaccination distribution strategy, allowing for greater access and reduced hesitancy for the most vulnerable communities.  
• We initiated a new framework for internal corporate alignment and coordination across lines of business (including retail, social responsibility, testing, and inside counsel, among others), enabling faster and more effective activation.
• With Ichor’s support, the client engaged over 100 stakeholders, formed partnerships with communities beyond vaccine equity, and mined existing partnerships for best practices and impact. 

• GIS mapping identified gaps in proximity to vaccination sites and lack of transportation within Black and immigrant neighborhoods – the source of community backlash.
• On-the-ground insights identified community-specific barriers to access, mistrust, and hesitancy.
• Community dialogues allowed the client to hear directly from local activists and the local chapter of a national advocacy organization concerned with gaps in access and facilitated collaboration.  
• The client was able to launch effective joint vaccination pop-up events with community leaders, reaching underserved Black and immigrant communities in easily accessible locations.