CNMI CHCC IMMUNIZATION AND VACCINES FOR CHILDREN - The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation’s (CHCC) Immunization Program is applying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Notice of Funding Opportunity: Strengthening Vaccine-Preventable Disease Prevention and Response (CDC-RFA-IP-25-0007). The request is for funding to support an approach that includes Component 1: Core, Component 2: Rapid- small-scale vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks or public health emergencies, and Component 3: Rapid large-scale response to VPD outbreaks or public health emergencies. The program is submitting the application for all components in this NOFO. The Commonwealth Health Care Corporation (CHCC) is the healthcare system serving the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which has a population of approximately 47,330 residents spread across three inhabited islands. According to the 2020 United States Census, the CNMI’s population is predominantly Asian (46.6%), with Filipinos making up the largest Asian subgroup (70%). Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders form the second-largest group (43.6%), including Chamorro, Carolinians, and Micronesians. The 2020 Census also reported that CNMI’s poverty rate is 33.7%, nearly three times higher than the U.S. national poverty rate of 11.4%. Factors such as poor diet, limited healthcare access, low income, low educational attainment, and lifestyle choices contribute to high uninsured rates and reliance on government assistance programs like Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/Food Stamps), and supplemental income. These factors negatively affect health outcomes and contribute to high rates of chronic illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The purpose of this project is to achieve high vaccination coverage rates in the jurisdiction and ensuring low incidence of VPD’s and to strengthen response to vaccine-preventable threats to public health through established priority strategies. At the end of the project period of performance, the CNMI CHCC Immunization Program expects to achieve the following outcomes: • Increased vaccine access and opportunities to populations of focus and through various efforts in clinics, provider networks, school/community-based outreaches, mass vaccination clinics, mobile clinics, etc. • Increased vaccine confidence and demand through dissemination of educational materials and resources and engaging trusted messengers • Enhanced data quality and evaluation opportunists through monitoring, maintaining, and modernizing Immunization Information Systems (IIS) capabilities • Strengthened programs support for partners through established program components in strengthening and creating partnerships and community’s cultural awareness on immunizations • Enhanced and strengthened vaccination response readiness to VPD outbreaks and emergencies. The program will develop and execute activities that will support the jurisdiction’s public health system in protecting the community from VPDs through increased access, confidence, and demand for vaccine, as these efforts remain a critical and central component to the United States’ immunization program infrastructure.
