- This is the official definition of vaccine hesitancy
according to the World Health Organization,
but it's become a catchall
to broadly describe the unvaccinated.
- Vaccine hesitancy can mean 10 different things
to 10 different people.
- This is Monica Schoch-Spana.
She's a senior scientist
at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
and the co-principal investigator of CommuniVax,
a national coalition focused on vaccine equity.
She says naming vaccine hesitancy as "the problem"
or blaming minority groups --
-Many people in Black and brown communities
are refusing to take the vaccine.
- can conceal issues of access,
especially in low-income communities of color.
Schoch-Spana and a group of researchers studied
why members of Black and Hispanic communities
weren't getting vaccinated.
- If we don't diagnose the problem correctly,
we're not going to be able to implement the right treatment.
- So, let's diagnose the problem.
The research team found that hesitancy
isn't the only reason people are not getting vaccinated.
In the Hispanic community alone, there are dozens of reasons
why a person has delayed getting the vaccine.
Misinformation was one.
- My granddaughter, she said,
"I'm planning to have a baby in one, two years.
I don't know what's gonna happen with my baby."
- We also hear in terms of,
you know, the chip, the microchip.
And we work hard to inform them we have had this vaccine
long enough to get good research data
showing proof that that is inaccurate.
- Access was also a problem.
Many Hispanic adults said there were technology, transportation,
or language barriers.
- Is the problem the fact that a monolingual
Spanish speaker who doesn't have a digital device
cannot get an appointment to get vaccinated?
- Communities of color are not homogeneous,
and infrastructure issues in the public healthcare system
can exist in some places and not in others.
- So, what does that mean?
Well, it means that the Health Department in Baltimore City,
which deals with a Black majority population,
was not well-equipped to meet the emergency needs
of a new and growing segment of the population,
many of whom are monolingual Spanish speakers.
- Some immigrants and their family
members said they feared accessing the vaccine
due to their status and being asked
for an official government ID or a Social Security number.
- They don't want to draw attention to themselves
or to their larger network.
- Vaccines are free for all US residents and adults,
regardless of immigration status or access to insurance.
But some have still been turned away.
While many states allow vaccinations with a utility bill
or work ID, that information is not readily available.
In rural Idaho, the local research team worked
with the health department to change their ID practices.
- It's changes like that,
changes in how public health invites people in
to take advantage of a service
and good like vaccination that make a difference.
- So, what now?
As the pandemic continues, Schoch-Spana
believes overcoming these barriers
will require a hyper-local strategy.
- We have to bring vaccination information
and the vaccination experience to places that are considered
familiar, safe, and convenient for people.
- Nearly half of unvaccinated Hispanic adults
say they are more likely to get vaccinated
if it was offered at a place they normally go to for care.
Four in 10 said they would get vaccinated
if their employer arranged it at their workplace.
Researchers and advocates say it's important
to support trusted community-based organizations
and healthcare workers
who are already doing the work on the ground.
- They trust us.
They know our organization.
They know me.
- That portion of our health system is ad hoc and fragmented.
Our community health system needs to be more
socially valued,
more operationally functional, and also sustainably financed.