Study: Homeless and incarcerated Minnesotans struggled to get COVID-19 vaccines

“This [study] shows we still have a ways to go in terms of moving the needle, especially for populations that are the most unstable,” said Dr. Katherine Diaz Vickery, a family medicine doctor and executive director of Hennepin County’s Health Care for the Homeless program, and one of the study’s primary authors. “People experiencing homelessness and people in jail need access to trusted health care providers who can offer them support, choices and time to decide what vaccines are best to protect them from the severe consequences of COVID-19.”

The study’s authors — including researchers at the University of Minnesota, Hennepin Healthcare and several of the state’s largest private health systems — stopped short of making policy recommendations.