Vote and Vaccinate, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), offered demonstration grants to 15 public health departments to organize, promote and set up influenza vaccination clinics targeted at underserved populations and within easy reach of polling places on Election Day (November 2) 2004.

This program built upon a model developed by SPARC (Sickness Prevention Achieved through Regional Collaboration), a nonprofit health organization based in Lakeville, Conn., that has offered immunization for influenza at a variety of community locations, including polling places, since 1997.

Key Results
Due to the national flu vaccine shortage that developed in the fall, 12 of the grantees were unable to obtain the vaccine for their planned Vote and Vaccinate clinics. Despite this problem, on Election Day 2004:

• Twelve Vote and Vaccinate projects held public health clinics at 60 polling places.
• Three of the projects had influenza vaccine available at polling place clinics and delivered 1,030 flu shots to individuals who met the CDC's high-risk guidelines. These clinics also delivered 61 pneumonia, 91 tetanus, 70 hepatitis A and 52 hepatitis B vaccinations as well as flu prevention education.
• Nine projects did not have flu vaccine available at polling place clinics but developed other public health outreach activities, including providing a total of 163 pneumonia vaccinations, flu prevention education, blood pressure monitoring and information about public health services available at county health departments.

Funding
RWJF authorized up to $120,000 for the program, and made an additional technical assistance grant of $58,000 to SPARC from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships Special Opportunities Fund. The one-year project period for the Vote and Vaccinate grants began August 1, 2004.