Addressing vaccine hesitancy in Baltimore City through a youth engagement/health literacy STEM initiative

项目总结/摘要 马里兰州大学（UMB）CURE Connections（C2）是少数STEM教育的组成部分 管道中，西巴尔的摩高中学生获得干丰富，包括动手研究， 通过在UMB及其合作机构的少数民族为重点的大学课程网络社区外展。 在这个项目中，我们将通过调整、实施和评估一个 青年参与/健康素养战略，以解决COVID-19疫苗犹豫和增加疫苗接种 摄取。我们目标的核心是与马里兰州大学中心建立新的能力建设伙伴关系， 疫苗开发（CVD），国家公认的疫苗研究领导者，一直处于最前沿 COVID-19疫苗的研发和测试。我们将整合CVD专业知识和资源， 建立了社区、医疗中心和地方政府部门合作伙伴网络。CVD合作伙伴将 支持适应健康冠军为改变学生（WCC-S）课程，以应对COVID-19， 19、疫苗科学，促进疫苗接种。这门课程最初侧重于预防肥胖 并在UMB开发和测试，作为通过青年宣传/健康素养促进健康的模式。这 新的以疫苗为重点的课程将在我们为期6周的C2暑期密集课程中实施 高中学者。然后，C2学者将与CVD教师/学生和UMB社区合作伙伴合作， 在西巴尔的摩社区传播疫苗教育。在本提案中，我们将使用 框架，框架，制定修改课程，重点是疫苗犹豫和访问。 具体而言，我们的目标是：（1）调整最初为肥胖症开发的青年宣传/健康素养课程 使用FRAME适应框架进行预防，以调整内容，作为解决疫苗犹豫的战略 增加西巴尔的摩居民的COVID-19疫苗接种。本课程将与Next 一代科学标准提供理解和翻译概念所需的基础知识 与疫苗科学和教学技能有关，重点是促进健康知识普及、青年宣传和社区 参与研究，最终以一个由社区推动的项目来减少疫苗犹豫。（二） 通过为期6周的课程，对一组C2学者高中学生实施和评估适应课程 暑期课程C2学者是这一提议的基石，并作为可靠的渠道， 从UMB向他们居住的西巴尔的摩社区传播疫苗教育。的 该计划的成功将证明跨部门伙伴关系的可行性及其帮助 消除结构性种族主义，这是疫苗犹豫和获得差距的核心。方案调整， 解决疫苗的使用问题，为解决未来的公共卫生问题提供了一个应用模型， 一个可持续的、以社区为重点的基础设施，以促进公共卫生。

Project Summary/Abstract University of Maryland (UMB) CURE Connections (C2) is an integral component of a minority STEM education pipeline in which West Baltimore high school students gain STEM enrichment including hands-on research and community outreach through a network of minority-focused college programs at UMB and its partner institutions. For this project, we will expand upon our current C2 curriculum by adapting, implementing, and evaluating a youth-engagement/health literacy strategy to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine uptake. Central to our aims is a new capacity-building partnership with the University of Maryland Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), a nationally recognized leader in vaccine research that has been at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine development and testing. We will integrate CVD expertise and resources into our established network of community, medical center, and local government sectors partners. CVD partners will support the adaptation of the Wellness Champions for Change-Student (WCC-S) curriculum to address COVID- 19, vaccine science, and promotion of vaccine uptake. This curriculum originally focused on obesity prevention and was developed and tested at UMB as a model for health promotion via youth advocacy/health literacy. This new vaccine-focused curriculum will be implemented during our 6-week intensive summer programming with C2 high school scholars. C2 scholars will then work with CVD faculty/students and UMB community partners to disseminate vaccine education in West Baltimore communities. In this proposal, we will use the adaptation framework, FRAME, to develop modifications to the curriculum to focus on vaccine hesitancy and access. Specifically, we aim to: (1) Adapt a youth advocacy/health literacy curriculum originally developed for obesity prevention using the FRAME adaptation framework to tailor content to address vaccine hesitancy as a strategy to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among West Baltimore residents. This curriculum will align with Next Generation Science Standards to provide foundational knowledge required to understand and translate concepts related to vaccine science and teach skills focused on health literacy promotion, youth advocacy, and community engaged research that culminates with a scholar-driven community project to reduce vaccine hesitancy. (2) Implement and evaluate the adapted curricula with a cohort of C2 scholar high school students via a 6-week summer program. The C2 scholars are the cornerstone of this proposal and function as credible conduits for dissemination of vaccine education from UMB to the West Baltimore communities in which they reside. The success of this program will demonstrate the feasibility of cross-sector partnerships and their potential to help erode structural racism that is at the heart of vaccine hesitancy and access disparities. Program adaptations to address vaccine uptake provide a model for its application to address future public health issues thereby creating a sustainable, community-focused infrastructure for public health promotion.