Children's Hospital Los Angeles partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on the VaxUp Challenge, an innovative campaign to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among children and teens.
The three-phase challenge will work alongside nonprofit and for-profit organizations to test, generate and scale creative ideas that will increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in children and teens who are disproportionately affected by the virus.
"Even with the Omicron variant surging through our communities, we are seeing that vaccinations among young people have stalled, particularly among Black and Latino adolescents in LA County," Omkar Kulkarni, chief innovation officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said in a Jan. 26 news release. "The VaxUp Challenge seeks to incentivize innovation to address barriers to being vaccinated and to increase vaccine confidence, especially among youth, adolescents and their parents in our underserved populations. We see this as essential work in support of Children's Hospital Los Angeles' mission of creating hope and building healthier futures for children."
Nonprofit and for-profit organizations can apply via Children's Hospital Los Angeles' website to join the partners on the VaxUp Challenge. The organizations that are chosen will receive a grant to deploy their projects.