George Floyd Square COVID-19 vaccine drives target misinformation, mistrust

The city of Baltimore escaped the worst of COVID-19 with high vaccination rates, high rates of health coverage, and strong support from political leaders who cooperated across ideological lines. Medicaid expansion helped achieve relatively high health insurance rates. Officials were also a bit more and cautious in reopening businesses and schools and relaxing mask requirements. The city didn’t escape the death and illness seen during the pandemic, but for these reasons it fared better than comparable areas.

Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in remote regions of the Amazon have been vaccinated for COVID-19 in part thanks to programs that send indigenous vaccinators with non-mRNA vaccines to remote villages. There, they meet with community leaders and work to gain the community’s trust before vaccinating those who are willing. Non-mRNA vaccines are used due to the refrigeration needed for mRNA doses, but they also make it easier to address misconceptions associated with the new and unfamiliar mRNA technology.

One rural hospital in Indiana vaccinated hundreds of immigrants from Central America by working with trusted community leaders and setting up a Hispanic Health Task Force. Health officials held vaccine clinics alongside trusted community members at locations that were familiar to residents, like a local Catholic church that offers Spanish-language services. The hospital and task force initially established community connections to distribute information about COVID-19, so they were able to utilize the connections to increase vaccination rates once the vaccine rolled out.

A centralized communication and record keeping system, along with ensuring convenience for the largely rural population, led Vermont to the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate nationwide. The centralized system keeps track of data and provides consistent guidance. Trusted messengers, like first responders, local pharmacists, and nonprofits like the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, provide culturally competent information that eases hesitancy. Along with mass-vaccination events, house calls and pop-up clinics at small businesses and local events made getting vaccinated convenient and comfortable.

IPSI Palaima is working to vaccinate Indigenous families who live in hard-to-reach areas of La Guajira, where there are no paved roads, electricity, or running water and staff must use cars, boats, and motorbikes to reach them. A team of nursing assistants and a doctor spend 15 days at a time at a local outpost and travel by motorbike to surrounding communities, carrying vaccines in cooler bags. The organization was founded by an Indigenous woman who grew up in the area. Many of the staff members speak the local language, which can ease the communities’ vaccine hesitation and mistrust of authorities.

Wayanad is the first district in Kerala to have vaccinated the entire adult population with at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Rather than waiting for people to make appointments, officials went door-to-door providing all adults with appointment times. The district’s efforts started early, setting up vaccine infrastructure and assigning people appointment dates by where they live. Rapid Response Teams conducted outreach and education efforts, particularly among tribal populations, and made sure people showed up at their appointment. Getting vaccinated with their neighbors also decreased vaccine hesitancy.

Taiwan responded to COVID-19 quickly, which helped keep cases low and avoid widespread shutdowns. The country had closely tracked its PPE stockpiles since the 2003 SARS outbreak, has a national health command center to coordinate responses, and uses a well-defined set of procedures to track and manage people under infectious risk or quarantine. Masks are required and provided to every citizen, inbound travelers were quickly regulated, and contact tracing and testing is widely used to prevent outbreaks. Citizens generally listen to authorities, though fines and other sanctions also encourage compliance.

Grassroots volunteer groups are helping people across the country make COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Get Out the Shot: Los Angeles has 100 vetted volunteers who have booked 300 appointments through the group’s system and thousands more on their own. Residents leave a message or fill out a Google form with their information and a volunteer picks up their case, books an appointment, and calls them to confirm. These volunteer organizations fill important assistance gaps in local government services that are stretched thin. Some groups focus on getting appointments for people from underserved communities.

The vaccination rate of Marshall County is six percentage points higher than the state overall, a success that is built on an existing infrastructure of public health and trust-building that predates the pandemic. The county made a detailed plan for the vaccine rollout well before vaccines arrived and residents trust the health department because it provides 90% of the population with routine immunizations. The health department also works one-on-one with residents to answer vaccine questions, which is a more effective way of combating misinformation than a generalized outreach campaign.

The Shelby County Voter Alliance, who was used to using publicly available information to run get-out-the-vote and voter registration drives, pivoted to door-knocking to increase vaccination rates. Using a grant from Civic Nation’s Made to Save initiative, SCVA went to people’s homes to answer questions about vaccines and let them know about community vaccination pop-ups. They worked with local churches and set up at a Juneteenth celebration, where vaccines were offered. While canvassing, volunteers use a “research-based script” from Made to Save that especially helps them talk with “hesitant people.”