Risha Irvin, MD, MPH, is Associate Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Department of Medicine; and Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
Maya Venkataramani, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
Health Secur. 2023 Mar-Apr;21(2):85-94. doi: 10.1089/hs.2022.0096. Epub 2023 Feb 15.
COVID-19 vaccines offer hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we document key lessons learned as we continue to confront COVID-19 variants and work to adapt our vaccine outreach strategies to best serve our community. In the fall of 2020, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in collaboration with the Office of Government and Community Affairs for Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, established the COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Community Education and Outreach Initiative in partnership with faith and community leaders, local and state government representatives, and community-based organizations. Working with community and government partnerships established before COVID-19 enabled our team to quickly build infrastructure focused on COVID-19 vaccine education and equity. These partnerships resulted in the development and implementation of web-based educational content, major culturally adapted media campaigns (reaching more than 200,000 individuals), community and faith education outreach, youth-focused initiatives, and equity-focused mobile vaccine clinics. The community mobile vaccine clinics vaccinated over 3,000 people in the first 3 months. Of these, 90% identified as persons of color who have been disproportionately impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic-government-community partnerships are vital to ensure health equity. Community partnerships, education events, and open dialogues were conducted between the community and medical faculty. Using nontraditional multicultural media venues enabled us to reach many community members and facilitated informed decisionmaking. Additionally, an equitable COVID-19 vaccine policy requires attention to vaccine access as well as access to sound educational information. Our initiative has been thoughtful about using various types of vaccination sites, mobile vaccine units, and flexible hours of operation.
COVID-19 疫苗为结束 COVID-19 大流行带来了希望。在本文中,我们记录了在继续应对 COVID-19 变异株并努力调整疫苗推广策略以更好地为我们的社区服务的过程中所吸取的关键经验教训。2020 年秋,约翰霍普金斯大学医学部多样性、包容和健康公平办公室与约翰霍普金斯大学和医学院政府和社区事务办公室合作,与信仰和社区领袖、地方和州政府代表以及社区组织合作,成立了 COVID-19 疫苗公平社区教育和外联倡议。与 COVID-19 之前建立的社区和政府伙伴关系合作,使我们的团队能够迅速建立专注于 COVID-19 疫苗教育和公平的基础设施。这些伙伴关系促成了基于网络的教育内容的开发和实施、主要的文化适应媒体宣传活动(覆盖超过 20 万人)、社区和信仰教育外联、面向青年的倡议以及以公平为重点的流动疫苗接种诊所。社区流动疫苗接种诊所在前 3 个月内为 3000 多人接种了疫苗。其中,90%的人表示自己是在 COVID-19 大流行期间受到不成比例影响的有色人种。学术-政府-社区伙伴关系对于确保健康公平至关重要。在社区和医学教员之间进行了社区伙伴关系、教育活动和公开对话。使用非传统的多元文化媒体场所使我们能够接触到许多社区成员,并促进了明智的决策。此外,公平的 COVID-19 疫苗政策需要关注疫苗的可及性以及获得可靠教育信息的机会。我们的倡议一直在深思熟虑地使用各种类型的接种地点、流动疫苗接种单位和灵活的运营时间。