Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake Among African Immigrants: Lessons from a Community-Based Outreach Program

AbstractIn 2021, the African Cultural Alliance of North America (ACANA) implemented a community-based vaccine education and outreach program to decrease hesitancy and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among African immigrants in Philadelphia. The program had three components: (1) tailored messaging on the benefits of vaccines by trusted communityhealth navigators in familiar languages/dialects, (2) use ofeducational/tabling events, and (3) establishment of avaccine clinic in community settings. Using secondary data analysis, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a self-administered survey, we explored (i) the impact and effectiveness of the outreach program and extent of vaccine uptake, (ii) African immigrants ’ beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine, and (iii) barriers and facilitators of vaccine knowledge, uptake, and hesitancy. Our analysis showed that ACANA’s outreach program was effective in addressing several cultural, logistic, and systematic barriers to vaccine uptake. The progra m distributed 2000 educational/informational flyers, reached 3000 community members via social media campaigns, and an additional 2320 through other person-to-person outreach events. The program was effective and resulted in the vaccination of 1265 community members over the course of the outr each. The impact of this outreach underscores the critical role of community-based organizations in addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine uptake ...
Source: Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research