Assessing Vaccine Hesitancy and a Pharmacist Led Intervention Model to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among African Americans

The investigators at Xavier University of Louisiana utilized a multicenter approach including clinic, health care institution, and community survey-based research project to assess the beliefs and behavior regarding willingness to be vaccinated with a prospective COVID-19 vaccine among African Americans in the Southeastern Louisiana region. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted the African American across the United States. Louisiana ranked 1st in the nation in per capita incidence of COVID-19. African Americans make up over 50% of the deaths of all known COVID-19 patients in the state, while only representing about 32% of the population. With the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, an urgent assessment of the African American community's readiness for vaccine uptake was needed to inform a pharmacist-led intervention model that would increase vaccine uptake. The Specific Aims of this proposal were: Specific Aim #1: To identify factors of vaccine hesitancy and the potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine among the adult African-American community in Southeastern Louisiana. Specific Aim #2: To assess the personal and financial impact of COVID-19, knowledge of COVID-19, as well as experience with the healthcare system with regards to COVID-19. Specific Aim #3: To use the results of Aim #1 and #2 to inform a community pharmacist certification course and a pharmacist led intervention model among pharmacist vaccinators. Method: Specific Aim #1 and #2 were assessed by a survey at the start of study with an abbreviated follow-up survey 9 months later from clinic, community member and community pharmacy patient respondents. Changes in vaccine hesitancy and the impact on vaccine uptake were determined. Aim #3 was assessed by a pharmacist led education intervention model with vaccine uptake surveillance in community pharmacies across Louisiana to assess COVID-19 and other ACIP eligible vaccines. Impact: The implications of this project were to understand health related beliefs and behaviors related to COVID-19 and vaccination and their impact on the likely uptake of a COVID-19 vaccine among African Americans. It also provided data to facilitate the development of strategies to improve COVID-19 vaccination in a vulnerable community with community pharmacists as vaccinators and with a pre-and post analysis plan to assess the intervention’s success. This grant also facilitated training early stage investigators and diversified the health research workforce as the majority of researchers are among underrepresented minorities and/or women.