A Pause in TogetherAustin Services
Dear Friends of TogetherAustin:
Effective November 1, TogetherAustin will begin a pause in service. Without additional funding, we cannot maintain our current levels of staffing and programs, including VaxTogetherAustin, which has provided more than 25,000 COVID, flu, and routine vaccinations in Central Texas.
TogetherAustin began in 2021 as a loose coalition of volunteers dedicated to increasing COVID-19 vaccine equity and access. We became a formal non-profit organization only days after the first clinic we held at Austin Lighthouse for the Blind. Our trajectory has been uniquely shaped by the pandemic's dire circumstances, which demanded capacity-building at unprecedented speed and scale to save lives.
Through November 2022, COVID vaccinations prevented an estimated 18.5 million hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths in the US, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund. Locally, an after-action report by Community Resilience Trust attributes the Central Texas Vaccine Collaborative's work to Travis County having one of the lowest rates of COVID deaths and COVID-related racial disparities in the state.
TogetherAustin established a mobile clinic model that brought COVID vaccines to people in trusted community settings. Our clinic events featured evening and weekend hours, walk-in availability, sensory aids, language interpretation, vaccine education, and additional resources to support healthcare needs at a whole-person level. Although the pandemic has transitioned into a less emergent phase, it has compounded existing gaps and inequities. Having largely met our initial goal, our model evolved to address additional needs of uninsured children and adults without medical homes, including routine vaccinations and support for people experiencing homelessness.
As our organizational priorities have shifted among significant changes to the funding landscape, we find ourselves at a crossroads. In the coming months, TogetherAustin's board and leadership will continue an intensive strategic planning process that began earlier this year. We hope to share more soon about the path forward, which you can follow through our website and newsletter.
In the meantime, we continue to advocate for health equity and a vision where all Central Texans have the ability to thrive. Of particular concern at the moment is the end of the Bridge Access Program, which provided federal funding to cover the cost of COVID vaccines for uninsured and underinsured individuals. This funding ended in August 2024, shortly before the 2024-2025 COVID vaccine became available. With periodic upticks in COVID infections, avoiding serious illness continues to be a major concern. Most people who were hospitalized from COVID in 2023 had not received last year’s updated shot, according to CDC data. We are highly concerned about the impact of insufficient capacity across public health departments, community-based organizations, and other vaccine providers on the hard-won gains we achieved together.
We cannot thank you enough for your support over the last three years. Your encouragement, contributions, and partnership have improved the health of Central Texans while bringing joy to the challenging circumstances we have faced together. We hope you will stay connected as we look forward to the future of TogetherAustin.