Oak Street Health Administers More Than 150,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses, Focuses on Equity During Rollout

Value-based Primary Care Leader Working with Local Organizations Across the Country to Accelerate Vaccine Rollout in Hardest-Hit Communities

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oak Street Health, Inc. (NYSE: OSH, or the “Company”), a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare, today announced that it has administered more than 150,000 total COVID-19 vaccine doses across 12 states. People vaccinated include senior patients and other 1b community members, fellow 1a healthcare workers in Chicago and Oak Street Health employees. The Company has partnered with local government and public health officials, health systems and community organizations across the country to proactively educate, execute outreach and vaccinate senior patients and other at-risk community members in neighborhoods of color. Oak Street Health is currently administering 10,000 doses per week across its clinics.

“Taking a leading role in equitable vaccination efforts is especially important to Oak Street Health given our patient population of older adults, many of whom have multiple chronic conditions in moderate- to low-socioeconomic neighborhoods,” said Mike Pykosz, Chief Executive Officer of Oak Street Health. “Our patients were most at-risk at the onset of the pandemic, so ensuring they are educated on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, as well as providing access to it, is fundamental to our mission of rebuilding healthcare as it should be.”

Along with dedicated vaccine clinics at its primary care centers across the country, Oak Street Health has worked with the City of Chicago on an innovative, targeted program to vaccinate residents 18 and older in Belmont Cragin and Montclare, two of the City’s hardest-hit communities as designated by the Protect Chicago Plus initiative. In the program’s eight-week run, Oak Street Health delivered more than 19,100 shots, vaccinating 9,641 residents, and helping to make Belmont Cragin the fastest-vaccinating zip code in Chicago.

“Our vaccination strategy has always been to prioritize communities and settings that have been most impacted by COVID-19 and to distribute vaccine equitably,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “Protect Chicago Plus is just one way we do this – and its success relies on our community partners and providers like Oak Street Health who have been working so hard to ensure that vaccine finds its way to the residents who need it most.”

“As primary care providers, we are doing some of the most important and meaningful work of our careers by delivering this life-saving vaccine in our communities,” said Dr. Ali Khan, Executive Medical Director of Oak Street Health. “Our teams at Oak Street Health have worked tirelessly to care for our country’s most at-risk patients during the pandemic, and it’s truly a privilege to be part of the solution. We are proud to continue increasing the number of patients and community members vaccinated in an equitable way, approaching our efforts with intention and purpose in order to turn the tide in some of our hardest hit communities.”

To learn more about Oak Street Health’s value-based primary care model, click here.

Source: Oak Street Health

About Oak Street Health

Founded in 2012, Oak Street Health is a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare. With a mission of rebuilding healthcare as it should be, the Company operates an innovative healthcare model focused on quality of care over volume of services, and assumes the full financial risk of its patients. Oak Street Health currently operates more than 80 centers across 13 states. To learn more about Oak Street Health’s proven approach to care, visit oakstreethealth.com.