Eastern Bank Foundation, Life Science Cares and New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund Fund GOTVax Vaccine Clinics and Outreach in Gateway Cities

Get Out The Vaccine, or GOTVax, a team of physicians and medical students of color, veteran campaign staff, and field organizers led by Dr. Alister Martin which came together to ensure a more equitable COVID-19 vaccine rollout in communities most in need, has announced the expansion of its vaccine rollout to Lowell and Brockton, Massachusetts. Created in March 2021, GOTVax has been promoting vaccine access and providing pop-up vaccination clinics to reach populations living in communities in Greater Boston with the highest incidence rate of COVID-19 cases, including Chelsea, East Boston, Mattapan, Roslindale and Dorchester. GOTVax’s expansion to the Gateway Cities of Lowell and Brockton is being made possible thanks to funding support by Eastern Bank Foundation, Life Science Cares, and New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund.

By pairing Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) healthcare providers with field organizers and volunteers, GOTVax combines trusted messengers from the community with credible people who answer vaccine-related questions and help the hardest to reach populations get access to the vaccine. Text banking, phone banking, canvassing and vaccine tripling drive GOTVax’s campaign-style approach.

“We have one simple focus: making it easy for our most vulnerable to get vaccinated,” says Dr. Alister Martin, Co-Founder of GOTVax, Emergency Medicine Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. “Hundreds of multi-lingual volunteers and organizers are going door-to-door, making phone calls, and visiting local businesses to assist community members with vaccination registration, and we have already provided over 6,000 vaccines in Black and Brown communities. We are grateful to the Eastern Bank Foundation, Life Science Cares, and New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund for their support in investing in our expansion to Brockton and Lowell, and for helping us to ensure no one is left behind.”

“Immigrant communities in our Gateway Cities have become hot spots for rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, which has revealed systemic inequities in the social systems that should be protecting them. They need and deserve our help,” said Nancy Huntington Stager, President and CEO of the Eastern Bank Foundation and lead funder of GOTVax’s expansion to Brockton and Lowell. “GOTVax’s volunteers and health professionals create the trust needed to overcome vaccination barriers. Every knock on a neighbor’s door is an invitation and opportunity for another vaccination, and we encourage others to join with us in supporting this urgent vaccination campaign.”

About GOTVax
We are working to ensure a more equitable vaccine rollout in Greater Boston and are committed to helping bring vaccines to those in our communities who are most in need. To learn more about our health equity focused GOTV (get out the vaccine) campaign, visit https://gotvax.org/ or follow GOTVax on Instagram or Twitter. If you are interested in volunteering for GOTVax, visit gotvax.org/volunteer and to make a donation, visit voter.kindful.com.

About Eastern Bank Foundation
Created in 1994, the Eastern Bank Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Boston-based Eastern Bank. Through philanthropy, employee volunteerism, advocacy and collaborations with other businesses and community partners, Eastern Bank Foundation responds to community needs and supports sustainable solutions to our communities’ most vexing challenges across eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. To learn more, visit its newly launched website at easternbank.com/foundation.

About Life Science Cares
Life Science Cares leverages the power of the life science industry to solve one of our most intractable social issues—poverty. Currently operating in four industry hubs (Boston, Philadelphia, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area), we harness the industry’s financial and human capital to support service organizations providing access to basic needs, access to education and access to opportunity. Learn more at  https://lifesciencecares.org/.

About
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund
The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF) is a coalition of Black and Brown executives in Massachusetts who have come together to leverage our individual and collective power to work with community organizations and coalitions to address and eliminate systemic racism and racial inequity in our Commonwealth. NCF provides  essential support, resources and thought leadership to uncover and dismantle systemic racism in all of its various and insidious forms, within institutions in Boston and across the other 350 cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NCF primarily focuses on Black and Brown-led organizations who are committed to the amplification and empowerment of Black and Brown residents and communities of Massachusetts. Learn more at https://www.newcommonwealthfund.org/.