With the development and FDA Emergency Use Authorization of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, we are working diligently to ensure everyone who wants to be vaccinated can do so easily, breaking down access barriers and addressing vaccine confidence in our communities.

We remain acutely aware that the pandemic is creating an unequal burden on communities of color. Latinx, Black, and Native Americans are dying from COVID-19 at significantly higher rates than white Americans, while lower-income, Latinx, and Black households face the highest rates of pandemic-related financial hardship and some of the lowest vaccination rates.

As we respond to these and other complex challenges to community health, we are guided by Kaiser Permanente’s foundational and abiding commitment to racial equity.

When the killing of George Floyd and so many others sparked a national movement for racial justice, we immediately partnered with organizations to address systemic racism and the lack of economic opportunities that prevent communities of color from thriving. Most recently, we supported partners in the community working to combat the drastic spike in violence and hate against people of Asian descent.

We are proud to share that in 2020, our total Community Benefit investment was $1.41 billion, which included $228 million for charitable health coverage and medical financial assistance – 2 programs essential to providing health care for those most in need.

As COVID-19 surged, we also took bold steps to reduce the number of people infected by the virus. Kaiser Permanente provided grant funding to the Public Health Institute to deploy contact tracers, helping local public health departments in California slow the spread.

We also launched a COVID-19 public education campaign to provide critical health messages to communities disproportionately affected by the virus.

As you’ll read in the stories of impact within this report, we also focused grantmaking to support urgent pandemic-related needs. We provided support to strengthen the health care safety net, address rising food and housing insecurity for people in need, and foster student and school staff mental health and well-being.

We humbly acknowledge that our work in the community would not be possible without our essential community partnerships. We pledge to continue our joint work on an equitable pandemic response in our communities, as together we face the ongoing challenges of this public health crisis.