Strategies to Address COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Mitigate Health Disparities in Minority Populations

Abstract

Beyond the complex logistical task of prioritizing, distributing and safely storing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines, state and local governments must simultaneously devise and carry out transparent plans that center equity and overcome the barriers to vaccination facing minority communities. Using insights gleaned from four focus groups conducted with health care and social service professionals serving minority communities in New York State as well as from existing research on vaccination, our results emphasize that vaccine hesitancy and access barriers—particularly within minority communities—pose significant hurdles to achieving widespread uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. Overcoming barriers requires community-engaged campaigns that acknowledge and address the historical injustices and on-going inequities that drive distrust within communities of color, emphasize understandable and culturally appropriate messages that directly address people's concerns about vaccine safety and access, and tap existing community infrastructure to make full use of trusted voices to deliver timely and accurate information about vaccines. Given emerging data and changing conditions, campaigns must also be self-reflective and adaptive, assessing progress and outcomes and reevaluating strategies as needed. However, above all, primary goals should remain focused on transparency, equity and building trust.

“The Risk Seems Too High”: Thoughts and Feelings about COVID-19 Vaccination

“…These respondents placed particular emphasis on the profit motives of pharmaceutical companies and related to the fears of being forced to be vaccinated by government actors or through legislation. Distrust in corporate actors and pharmaceutical companies related to profit motives is also supported in the literature [40].…”

The role of trust in the likelihood of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine: Results from a national survey

“…At the same time, addressing access barriers also remains important in order to optimize COVID-19 vaccination ( Binagwaho et al, 2021 ; Bolcato et al, 2021 ; Johnson Jr. et al, 2021 ; Shen et al, 2021 ) for many communities. Thus, the national effort must simultaneously address trust ( Khubchandani and Macias, 2021 ; Strully et al, 2021 ) with vaccine accessibility.…”

Increased COVID-19 infection risk, COVID-19 vaccine inaccessibility, and unacceptability: Worrisome trio for patients with substance abuse disorders

“…While preventive measures and therapeutic strategies reduce mortality rates, the long-term solution of adverse COVID-19 implications is vaccination. With the advent of efficacious COVID-19 vaccines, the key challenge is overcoming vaccine hesitancy [ 11 ].…”

“…Low rates of literacy and awareness can lead to misinterpretation of COVID-19 symptoms in opiate users as signs of withdrawal, which leads to further dosing of opioids [ 10 ]. Lack of knowledge in these groups against COVID-19, its severity, rapid vaccine developments, and myths has raised doubts about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine among them [ 11 ].…”