Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Latinos through a Targeted Clinical and Community-behavioral Intervention

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Project Summary/Abstract The United States currently has the highest COVID-19 infection and related mortality rates in the world. In California, Latinos account for the highest percent of COVID-19 cases (58.9%) and deaths (47.3%) and are disproportionately represented in occupations deemed as ‘essential’. Latinos also suffer from higher rates of poverty and chronic disease which places them at greater risk of COVID-19 infection and related complications. In collaboration with Family Health Centers of SD (FHCSD) and working with Community Health Workers (aka, promotores/as), we will implement a multilevel intervention to increase COVID-19 vaccine completion rates and see faster vaccination uptake among Latinos. A total of 10 clinics will be randomized to either a Standard Clinical Practice consisting of standard clinic-based strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccine uptake among patients or a Multilevel Intervention consisting of an individualized/tailored intervention delivered by Health Educators working within the clinics plus a multi-component community intervention delivered by community promotores. This project will test the immediate and short-term effectiveness of the multilevel intervention to increase COVID- 19 vaccine uptake. In addition, we will test the effectiveness of the proposed intervention on long-term behavioral, mental, and physical health outcomes. Lastly, this project will assess implementation outcomes including program acceptability and feasibility by patients and clinic staff and community environment. This study aims to increase the uptake of completing the COVID-19 vaccine in a population that has exceptionally high rates of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. We will harness our research team’s extensive experience in developing multi-level interventions working with Health Educators and promotores to promote behavior change among Latinos, and leverage a strong community-academic collaboration that maximizes community impact and sustainability. This research will lead to the development of sustainable and scalable community-academic models designed to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to both this existing and future public health threats.