Need a ride to your COVID vaccine appointment? United Way and Lyft to offer free trips.
The United Way of the Greater Triangle and the ride-sharing service Lyft will partner to provide free rides to COVID-19 vaccination appointments starting some time next month.
The program, known as Ride United NC, has a goal of providing 100,000 round trips, according to a news release from the United Way.
“We’re trying to remove the barriers for transportation, particularly in rural areas among populations of color and the elderly,” said Eric Gunkian, president and CEO of the United Way of the Greater Triangle, in an interview with The News & Observer.
“This is about us filling a need,” he said.
Ride United NC will start with over $400,000 in collective donations from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Coastal Credit Union and Duke Energy.
The United Way is accepting donations for the program online, including from individuals at any dollar amount, at unitedwaytriangle.org/rideunitednc/.
Cheryl Parquet, director of community engagement and marketing activation at Blue Cross, said the program will need more donations and community partners to meet the 100,000 vaccine-trip goal.
“We’re really trying to come together for our state,” Parquet told The N&O. “We can’t do this alone.”
Though 100,000 is the goal, she said the overall mission is to schedule as many vaccine trips as they can.
“If for some reason, it’s 20,000, that’s 20,000 rides we didn’t have across our state,” Parquet said.
“This is really about neighbors helping neighbors,” said Gunkian.
How the program will work
Once the program starts in mid-April, there will be a call center that people with vaccination appointments who need rides can use free-of-charge.
Someone at the call center will then schedule the round trip with Lyft to pick them up on their vaccination date.
If they are receiving the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the person seeking the vaccine can set up another Lyft ride appointment for the date of their second and final dose.
Gunkian said the call center will also be able to provide information for those who are hesitant or have questions about getting vaccinated.
Details, including the call-center number and starting date, will be announced by mid-April, he said.
North Carolinians in every county will be able to call for a ride to their vaccine appointment, he said.
NCDOT already offering free bus rides
The state Department of Transportation will help the United Way and its partner with the initial set up of the United Ride NC program.
NCDOT also announced in January that $2.5 million in coronavirus aid would be made available to local transit agencies to provide public transportation to vaccine appointments.
As of Monday, 4,023 people have been taken to vaccine appointments through that funding, according to NCDOT.
Disproportionate vaccine rollout in NC
Some experts and activists have said lack of transportation has hindered North Carolina’s vaccine rollout.
A February study from the North Carolina Justice Center’s Health Advocacy Project found decades of policy decisions in North Carolina, influenced by racial animus or racial indifference, has led to inequities, including a health care infrastructure that has limited vaccine access among communities of color.
As of Monday, over 1.7 million people in North Carolina are fully vaccinated, which is 16.9% of the total population and 21.6% of the adult population.
Among those that are fully vaccinated, 15.2% are Black, 2.5% are Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.7% are indigenous and 3% are Hispanic, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Among the total N.C. population those percentages are 23.1%, 3.5%, 1.7% and 9.8% respectively.
Roughly 72.9% of people who are fully vaccinated are white, which is slightly higher than the 71.7% of the overall state population that is white.
Starting April 7, anyone 16 and older in the state will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.