In a normal year, more than 5.8M Americans delay or miss medical care due to a lack of transportation. As we all know, this is not a normal year. COVID-19 has amplified transportation insecurity, especially for seniors and vulnerable communities. That’s why we’re mobilizing a coalition of partners with a goal to provide 60 million rides to and from vaccination sites for low-income, uninsured, and at-risk communities, when the vaccine becomes available.
Corporate partners JPMorgan Chase and Anthem Inc. and community partner United Way will be working alongside Lyft to lead the effort, with many other business, healthcare and technology partners preparing to join the campaign as vaccines become available in the coming weeks.
“Making sure people can get to vaccination sites when they need to is mission critical to beating this virus,” Lyft Co-Founder and President, John Zimmer said. “This is an opportunity to use our collective strength to mobilize on a massive scale and serve our communities. We cannot let lack of transportation be a factor in determining whether people have access to healthcare.”
Additional program partners signing on to launch the effort include Epic, Centene Corporation, Modern Health, One Medical, National Hispanic Council on Aging, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, National Urban League and the National Action Network.
“Rideshare connects communities with people, places, and things that matter most, including health care services,” said Marianne Lake, Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Lending at JPMorgan Chase. “Chase is committed to serving all communities and ensuring there are no barriers to families getting this critical vaccine once it’s available to them.”
“At Anthem, we understand our important role to support community health and ensure access to care. With the highly anticipated vaccine now rolling out across the country, we are pleased to be joining Lyft and other leading partners to ensure our nation’s most vulnerable consumers will have the opportunity to receive the vaccine,” said Gail K. Boudreaux, President and CEO, Anthem.
“Every day a lack of safe and reliable transportation hinders peoples’ ability to access basic needs like good jobs, healthy food and public benefits,” said Suzanne McCormick, President of United Way U.S. “By joining Chase, Anthem and Lyft as an early partner of the universal vaccine access campaign we will make getting to and from vaccine appointments as easy as dialing 2-1-1.”
“Access to reliable transportation represents a major barrier to care for millions of Americans across the country,” said Megan Callahan, MPH, VP of Lyft Healthcare. “In fact, lack of transportation is one of the top reasons people miss medical appointments. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this problem, creating a huge challenge in making sure vulnerable populations have access to the vaccine — especially for seniors living alone, low income workers, and parents with young children. We estimate that 15 million Americans will face transportation issues trying to get to vaccination sites. That’s where Lyft can make a difference.”
Lyft’s on-demand transportation network provides critical access to healthcare services for at-risk communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including non-emergency medical transport for home-bound seniors, people living with disabilities, and dialysis patients. Many of these patients belong to vulnerable populations who will be prioritized for early vaccine distribution, and Lyft’s healthcare transportation services will play a critical role in transporting them to and from vaccination sites.
The universal vaccine access campaign is part of the company’s LyftUp initiative, a partnership of companies, community organizations and individuals working together to make sure everyone has access to affordable, reliable transportation to get where they need to go. Working together using Lyft’s transportation platform, companies and social impact organizations will help underserved communities access vaccination appointments by providing subsidized rides for employees and members, and free or discounted rides for those in need. In addition to directly funding rides, corporate partners will leverage their customers and member networks to promote individual contributions to the campaign as well as provide social media and marketing resources to connect people in need with community partners. Community partners will then route ride credits to those in need.
Corporations and non-profit organizations interested in joining the universal vaccine access effort can email supportlyftup@lyft.com. Individuals are also encouraged to contribute by Donating a Ride through United Way.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements about Lyft, including statements about Lyft’s vaccine access plans and partnerships. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements are detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake an obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.