Black Boston COVID Coalition Launches Mobile Vaccine Van for Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition launches mobile vaccine van targeting Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. Mayor Kim Janey, speaking at an outdoor press event broadcast on Boston's community access TV, announced that city vaccine equity grant funding for the effort has grown to $3 million following a second $1.5 million allocation. The coalition, which former State Senator Diane Wilkerson described as having made more than 500,000 phone calls and knocked on thousands of doors since February, estimates only 35 percent of Black Boston residents and 30 percent of Latino residents are vaccinated. "We know the second half is going to be tougher," Janey said, pointing to mass vaccination sites beginning to wind down as the community-based effort ramps up. Dr. Cyril Ubiam of Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, the van's clinical partner, said vaccines are available Thursday through Saturday with no registration and regardless of immigration or insurance status, with the first stop at Franklin Park. The coalition, funded additionally by the Barr Foundation, the Klarman Family Foundation, Amazon, Eastern Bank, and a $30,000 Lyft ride donation, employs 105 paid community workers and has deployed 32 youth ambassadors funded by Hebrew College and BU School of Theology.