Information, Data, and Tools to Support COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Underserved Communities


COVID inoculation rates in U.S. minority communities are dismal, hovering around 8%. They are currently eight times higher in white communities. Studies show that causes include misinformation about vaccine effectiveness and safety, lack of trust in government institutions and drug companies, the digital divide, language barriers, inaccessibility of vaccination sites, deportation fears by undocumented immigrants, identifying and reaching underserved communities to address equity, among others.

Watch the American Public Health Association, the GWU Milken Institute School of Public Health, MDB, and SSF, in a free 90-minute webinar explaining tools and approaches to raise vaccination rates in underserved communities. Panelists from Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the Office of Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services providing the latest tools, technical assistance, and grants for addressing equity and reaching underserved communities. Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division of the Census Bureau demonstrating the Community Resilience Estimates (CRE) program that uses granular data to measure individuals and community capacity to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Local healthcare officials on the frontlines of healthcare equity.

Download the links here

PANELISTS

Cheryl Levine Ph.D., serves as the Senior Advisor and At-Risk Individuals Program Director at HHS/Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Her work helps integrate information access with functional needs for at-risk individuals into public health and medical emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities.Juliet Bui is a Public Health Advisor in the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She serves in the Division of Policy and Data and is supporting Departmental efforts to implement the COVID-19 and racial equity executive orders.
Bethany DeSalvo, PhD, is the Chief of Small Area Modeling and Development in the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division in the Department of Commerce. She is is responsible for the research, development and application of small area estimation techniques to population-level data.Gabriel Amaro is a Survey Statistician in the Small Area Modeling and Development Branch. He is one of the original team members involved in the creation of Community Resilience Estimates.
Tim FieldsModerator Tim Fields is a Senior Vice President of public health and environmental service firm, MDB, Inc. He leads MDB’s Environmental Justice, facilitation, and redevelopment activities. Before joining MDB, Tim spent 30 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and served as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM).
Ana Gallego is the Executive Director of Health Systems Planning and Policy at NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She works with healthcare policy and planning strategists, health economists, social epidemiologists, and population health analysts tasked with finding ways that healthcare, social services and government can collaborate and make targeted investments in social needs to improve New Yorkers’ health at large scale.