Disparities in vaccine uptake stem from both lower confidence in and less access to the COVID-19 vaccination. First, many individuals in diverse communities are less confident than white Americans in the vaccine, with 43% of Black adults and 37% of Hispanic adults stating they would “wait and see” how it is working for others before getting it. Second, vaccine distribution is commonly done in ways that are less accessible to BIPOC Americans in both obvious ways (e.g., distribution sites are placed farther from BIPOC communities), and more subtle ways (e.g., accessing the vaccine requires an individual to have resources—time, transportation, computer and Internet access, knowledge of how to get vaccinated, etc.—that are not equitably distributed by race and ethnicity).
10 Recommendations: Health care CEOs are in a unique position to increase confidence in, and accessibility to, the COVID-19 vaccine. Fixing the deep inequities embedded in the health care system is beyond the scope of this guide, but CEOs can take the following 10 steps today to increase vaccine confidence and accessibility in the diverse communities they serve:
PART I: Creating an Action Plan
PART II: Increasing Confidence
PART III: Increasing Accessibility
About this Guide: This document was developed by Fellows on the Roundtable on Community Health and Advancing Health Equity, with support from Health Evolution staff and Benjamin Bolnick and with significant input from both the Work Group on Building Scalable Models and Community Partnerships to Address Social Determinants of Health and the Work Group on Leveraging Data to Improve Health Equity. This working guide is available to the public on a webpage with commenting functionality. New versions will be released to respond to feedback received and to the emergence of additional data and best practices.