Factors Associated With Marshallese and Hispanic Adults’ Willingness to Receive a COVID-19 Booster Dose

Abstract

Introduction/Objectives: New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 will continue to develop and spread globally. The Omicron variant identified in November 2021 has many lineages. Variants spread quickly and can infect previously vaccinated individuals, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update vaccination recommendations. While ~230 million Americans received the initially-recommended vaccine sequence, booster uptake has been much lower; less than half of fully vaccinated individuals report receiving a booster. Racial disparities also mark patterns of COVID-19 vaccination booster uptake. This study explored willingness and motivations to get a COVID-19 booster among a diverse sample of participants. Methods: We used convenience sampling to recruit participants 18 years of age or older who attended a community vaccine event. We conducted informal interviews during the recommended 15-min post-vaccination wait time with 55 participants who attended vaccine events at Marshallese and Hispanic community locations and comprised the recruitment pool for individual interviews. Using a qualitative descriptive design, we conducted in-depth follow-up interviews with 9 participants (Marshallese n = 5, Hispanic n = 4) to explore willingness and motivations to get boosted. We used rapid thematic template analysis to review informal interview summaries and formal interviews. The research team resolved data discrepancies by consensus. Results: Participants reported high willingness to get boosted, especially if boosters were recommended in the future to protect against serious illness and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This finding underscores how essential including recommendations to get a COVID-19 booster from trusted sources in health messaging and educational campaigns may be for increasing booster uptake. Participants described their preference for receiving future COVID-19 boosters, reporting that they would attend similar vaccine events, especially those held at faith-based organizations and facilitated by the same community partners, community health workers, and research staff. This finding shows how community engagement can overcome barriers to vaccination (ie, transportation, language, and fear of discrimination) by providing services in preferred community locations with trusted community partners. Conclusions: Findings document high willingness to get a COVID-19 booster, emphasize the role of recommendations from trusted sources in motivating booster uptake, and highlight the importance of community engagement to address disparities in vaccination coverage and reach.

Public health partnerships with faith-based organizations to support vaccination uptake among minoritized communities: A scoping review

“…Third, messaging was also tailored based on linguistic and cultural understanding [ 47 , 109 , 150 ]. The National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NLEC) worked with the CDC and Health and Human Services to promote Spanish public service announcements on digital platforms [ 78 , 139 ].…”

“…In LMICs, faith communities’ vast volunteer networks were activated to facilitate vaccine appointment sign-ups [ 111 , 155 , 156 ]; and mosques and churches were staffed to call its members to show up at vaccine appointments [ 81 , 91 , 113 ] while also being used as vaccination sites [ 80 ]. In HICs, vaccine clinics were established at locations and times convenient to vulnerable ethno-racial communities, which were useful for addressing language barriers [ 44 , 47 , 64 , 102 ]. Coalitions of PHAs, FBOs, and civil society NGOs organized mass vaccination sites at places of worship and vaccine drives.…”

“…Longstanding PHA-initiated programs included the Minnesota Immunization Networking Initiative (MINI) [ 157 ] and White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships [ 87 ]. Newer programs like the multi-faith "Faith 4 vaccines" initiative [ 158 ], National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) [ 109 ], National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NLEC) [ 78 ], Nevada Vaccine Equity Collaborative [ 159 ], and university-PH-FBO collaborative in Arkansas, US [ 44 , 47 ] were exemplars in developing an equitable vaccination distribution plan and ensuring vaccine sites met the linguistic and cultural needs of the community. Data-driven strategies were used to determine areas with high social deprivation index disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 [ 74 , 87 ].…”

“…There were 38 frameworks, theories, models and strategies applied across 44 initiatives (See Table 4). Six theories/frameworks/models/strategies were identified in more than 2 articles, namely, the Social-Ecological Model (SEM) [41][42][43][44]; Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) [44][45][46][47][48]; Community-Engaged Outreach (CEO) [49,50]; Social and Behavioral Change Communication framework (SBCC) [41,51]; Social Mobilization Implementation Theory and Strategy [52,53]; and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) [43,54].…”

“…Among initiatives that reported frameworks, models, and strategies, PHAs did not explicitly consider the socio-structural drivers of racial and health inequities. Rather, they took on community-centered implementation approaches (e.g., CBPR [44][45][46][47][48]; CEO [49,50], Social Mobilization Implementation Theory [52,53], Community Engagement Framework [56], Locally-Driven Partnerships and Community-designed Solutions [64] etc.). Local faithbased partners' understanding of cultural and social norms and contextual needs, and as established and trusted leaders within their respective communities positively informed vaccine outreach activities.…”