Vaccines

For many refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members, navigating the complex U.S. healthcare system is challenging, even in normal times. During the COVID-19 pandemic, existing inequities in health and access to health care have been compounded by inadequate or insufficient COVID-19 information in languages other than English.

Many refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant cultural, linguistic, and logistical barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. Accessing the COVID-19 vaccine presents several challenges, including digital literacy, transportation, and navigating unfamiliar vaccination sites. When eligible children and their adult relatives have opportunities to get vaccinated at pediatric clinics and children’s hospitals, some of the barriers to vaccinating the whole family are reduced.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a disproportionate impact on refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities. To slow the spread of COVID-19 in RIM communities, health departments and community-based organizations (CBOs) are developing innovative approaches that encourage youth to wear a mask and get vaccinated not only for themselves, but also for others.

The availability of accurate COVID-19 information that is culturally and linguistically relevant is essential to keeping communities safe. Messages change rapidly and some health departments may face challenges with developing health messaging that reaches all communities, particularly refugees, immigrants, and migrants (RIM). 

Many refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant barriers to getting accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the vaccine itself. At clinics and mass vaccination events, the challenge of navigating a large and confusing site with unfamiliar staff can be intimidating.

What is a booster?

Boosters are shots you get after you are fully vaccinated so that you can stay protected against COVID-19. It is important to stay up-to-date with your COVID-19 vaccines by getting boosters when you are eligible.

Youth and young adults continue to have low COVID-19 vaccination rates across the US. Engaging youth is vital in the next stage of vaccine promotion and for reaching herd immunity.

Many people from refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities experience significant logistical barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. Some vaccine campaigns rely on internet-based registration and utilize locations that accommodate large numbers of people for vaccine administration. This strategy may be ineffective for many RIM communities due to linguistic limitations, unreliable internet access and overall internet navigation barriers. Community members may not have reliable internet access or be familiar with the internet.

Social media is a primary source of information for much of the US public, especially youth and young adults. This includes people in refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) communities who may not utilize traditional media sources that are not published in their language.

Immunization rates are lower among refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities due to factors that include limited culturally and linguistically appropriate information, knowledge and beliefs about a disease and vaccine, and challenges accessing healthcare (related to cost, transportation, medical system complexity/unfamiliarity, lack of welcoming environment, etc.). Vaccine hesitancy is a significant hurdle to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and getting bac

What is a variant?

Viruses are always changing to try to outsmart our bodies and to assure it can survive through spreading to new people. When a big change happens, scientists call it a new variant. Some variants disappear and never cause harm, while others can make a virus easier to spread, harder to treat, and/or more deadly. When variants occur, scientists and experts monitor them closely. Many variants of the COVID-19 virus have already been discovered and are being monitored.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the COVID-19 vaccination for everyone age 6 months old and older. 

To help stop the spread of COVID-19, it is important to vaccinate individuals of all ages. Widespread vaccination is the key to being able to safely go back to pre-pandemic activities, such as in-person classes, after-school activities, social gatherings, and travel.

In the COVID-19 response, partnerships are essential to reaching refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities, maximizing resources, reducing duplicating efforts, and improving the delivery of services and resources. The requirement in most of the U.S., that a person must visit a medical facility to receive medical services, is a large barrier for many individuals and communities, particularly for preventive health care such as immunizations.

As COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities, it is vital that linguistically and culturally appropriate messaging created by and from the community is accessible. Recognizing the need to reach individuals with real-time, tailored messaging about COVID-19, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Boise is creating hyperlocal, rapidly produced videos.

In the COVID-19 response, some vaccination sites are challenged to vaccinate large numbers of refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members due to misconceptions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine, language barriers, confusion about the registration and administration process, and awareness of existing services. Ensuring access to accurate vaccine facts and information about vaccination sites and the process is critical for these communities.

A key component of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is misinformation and disinformation about vaccine safety that is combined with fear and uncertainty about side effects. Hearing from known and trusted people about their vaccine experience is useful in decreasing fear and increasing acceptance.

The availability of accurate COVID-19 information that is culturally- and linguistically relevant is essential to keeping communities safe. Refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities experience numerous challenges to successful COVID-19 vaccination, many of which stem from a different understanding of COVID-19 and vaccines, especially as it applies within their community, as well as a well-founded lack of trust in governmental organizations and systems.

To respond effectively to COVID-19 and to longstanding health inequities made worse by the pandemic, it is essential to leverage community strengths and trusted community networks.

Refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities experience numerous challenges to successful vaccination efforts, many of which stem from concerns about COVID-19 and vaccines, especially as it applies within their community, as well as a well-founded lack of trust in governmental organizations and systems. Common questions from RIM communities about the COVID-19 vaccine include:

COVID-19 vaccines are becoming more widely available in the United States. As vaccine allocation includes a larger proportion of the population, understanding and overcoming challenges to vaccination experienced by different communities is essential to ensuring equitable vaccine implementation.

Many refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant logistical barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. As vaccine allocation and expanded eligibility increases across the United States, many vaccine campaigns rely on internet-based registration and utilize locations that accommodate large numbers of people for vaccine administration. This strategy can be ineffective for many RIM communities due to a variety of factors.

In the COVID-19 response, partnerships are essential to reach underserved communities, maximize resources, reduce duplication of efforts, and improve the delivery of culturally- and linguistically-appropriate services and resources. It is essential to draw on community strengths and trusted community networks to respond effectively to COVID-19 and to longstanding health inequities made worse by the pandemic. Collaboration allows limited federal, state, and local resources to be targeted and allocated to areas that need the resources most.

Many refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant cultural, linguistic, and logistical barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. Accessing the COVID-19 vaccine presents several challenges, including digital literacy, transportation, and navigating unfamiliar vaccination sites. But even more importantly, before a community member seeks out a COVID-19 vaccine, there may remain lingering questions and concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

In the COVID-19 response, partnerships are essential to reach underserved communities, maximize resources, reduce duplicating efforts, and improve the delivery of services and resources. Refugee resettlement agencies and local health departments work independently and collaboratively to ensure that the people and communities they serve are healthy.

Many community members have questions regarding COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, organizations that work in the community and often serve as information hubs have a specific need to ensure that their staff have up-to-date information about COVID-19 vaccines that they feel comfortable sharing. The program creates virtual platforms for community engagement and information sharing as well as a resource hub program that addresses information gaps. 

To reach communities that are most impacted by inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to integrate considerations for these communities of focus into all aspects of the response efforts. When equity work is sequestered to one area of the response, there are often siloes in the work and equity considerations can become reactive instead of proactive.

Refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities experience numerous challenges to successful vaccination, many of which stem from a different understanding of COVID-19 and vaccines, especially as it applies within their own community, as well as a well-founded lack of trust in governmental organizations and systems.

Many refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant logistical barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. As vaccine allocation in the United States includes increasing numbers of people, many vaccine campaigns rely on internet-based registration, and utilize locations that can accommodate large numbers of people for vaccine administration. This strategy can be ineffective for many RIM communities due to a variety of factors.

Many community members turn to local, trusted sources to get information about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. For refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities, local media outlets that are linguistically and culturally concordant are essential conduits for the most up-to-date COVID-19 information and guidance.

The availability of accurate COVID-19 information that is culturally- and linguistically-appropriate is essential to keeping communities safe. Likewise, it is also important to provide information via channels that community members actively use and trust.  

COVID-19 vaccines are becoming more widely available in the United States. As vaccine allocation includes a larger proportion of the population, understanding and overcoming challenges to vaccination experienced by different communities is essential to ensuring equitable vaccine implementation.

Over the last two years, many refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) community members have faced major logistical challenges to getting the COVID-19 vaccine.  Although COVID-19 vaccines are now more widely available in the United States, mainstream vaccination campaigns have mostly relied on internet-based registration and large sites for mass vaccination, which can be ineffective for RIM communities for various reasons.

In the COVID-19 response, some sites are challenged when it comes to offering and vaccinating significant numbers of refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members at mainstream vaccination sites due to transportation barriers, language access issues, and challenges regarding stigma. This challenge exists for both administering the COVID-19 vaccine and routine vaccinations, especially in the pediatric population.

Immunization rates are lower among refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) communities due, in part, to challenges accessing healthcare services. The requirement in most of the U.S., that a person must visit a medical facility to receive medical services, is a large barrier for many individuals and communities, particularly for preventive health care such as immunizations. This is due to many factors which include cost (e.g. time away from work), transportation, and complexity of navigating a medical system for appointments, especially if your primary language is not English.

Immunization rates are lower among refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) communities due to factors which include cultural and linguistic diversity, knowledge and beliefs about a disease and vaccine, and challenges accessing healthcare (related to cost, transportation, medical system complexity/unfamiliarity, lack of welcoming environment, etc.). This challenge is expected to persist as the COVID-19 vaccine becomes increasingly available.

Health departments are working quickly to implement plans for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. As news and messaging around COVID-19 vaccines unfolds rapidly, some communities may have questions and concerns about what to expect. 

The availability of accurate COVID-19 information that is culturally- and linguistically-appropriate is essential to keeping communities safe. Likewise, it is also important to provide information via channels that community members actively use and trust.