Addiction and behavioral health care workers should have access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines

At the beginning of the pandemic, the U.S. government and private organizations rushed to support health care workers — and rightfully so — with massive ramp-ups in making available personal protective equipment and testing supplies to ensure that frontline workers had the resources they needed to keep themselves, their patients, and their families as safe as possible. These providers have been now been given priority to get the Covid-19 vaccines that are being rolled out across the country.

But one group of health care workers has been excluded from these efforts: those who work in behavioral health and addiction treatment centers. Even as mental health issues and substance use disorders have skyrocketed during pandemic-driven lockdowns, these essential providers have struggled from day one to get the necessary protective equipment and testing supplies for themselves and their patients. Read more