Communications

As the pandemic reaches three years, the public has wearied of COVID-19 and may not feel motivated to engage with important health messaging. At the same time, without proper precautions COVID-19 can still cause significant illness and even death. To continue engaging people, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has adapted its approach to discussing COVID-19 with clients by mainstreaming the conversation and inserting it into contextually appropriate conversation entry points.

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 accessing health information and healthcare, including accurate information about COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccination opportunities.

Many refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members experience significant cultural, linguistic, and logistical barriers to accessing health information and healthcare, including accurate information about COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccination opportunities. 

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.

Building vaccine confidence takes time and trust. Client-facing staff and others working directly with community members seeking to dispel fear, misinformation, and disinformation will usually need to engage and explore people's hesitancy before sharing accurate information. One helpful way to do this is using some of the techniques found in Motivational Interviewing.

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). 

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.

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 back to

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.

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:

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.

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.  

The availability of accurate COVID-19 information that is culturally and linguistically appropriate is essential to keeping communities safe. However, there are currently many communication challenges for refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities. Language barriers, time restraints, and having patients isolated from their families has resulted in a communication gap between patients, families, and health providers.

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

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). 

The availability of accurate COVID-19 and other public health related 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.

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.  

In the COVID-19 response, some sites are reporting challenges in reaching large numbers of refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) community members to disseminate consistent health messaging and awareness of existing services.