FIU Center for Reducing Health Disparities in Substance Abuse & HIV in South Florida

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COVID-19 is a pandemic that has caused disastrous and unprecedented public health and economic consequences in the United States. The pandemic has seriously and negatively affected Americans’ physical and mental health, and disproportionately so the health of Americans from underrepresented minority backgrounds (URM). The proposed supplemental project will engage the large network of FIU-RCMI community partner organizations forged by our Engagement Core. Our primary focus will be on Miami-Dade organizations serving URM communities suffering disparities in rates of COVID-19 fatalities, infection, exposure, testing, and access to care. Our primary emphasis will be the developing, designing, and mounting of community-partnered efforts (i.e., Town Hall Meetings) to promote COVID-19 vaccine literacy among URM groups, with direct attention to readiness for participation in (a) candidate vaccine trials and (b) approved vaccine rapid deployment. The aims of this proposed supplement are to inform and educate Miami-Dade URM communities through Town Halls facilitated by community organizations that serve these hard-to reach communities. Our efforts will be community partnered and involve a formative phase for developing and testing materials, and an implementation phase for conducting Town Halls. The implementation phase also will include assessing the Town Halls’ impact on readiness for participation in (a) candidate vaccine trials and (b) approved vaccine rapid deployment. We anticipate reaching a minimum of 700 community stakeholders and influencers through the Town Halls. Town Hall participant data will be collected through real-time polling at the opening (pre) and close (post) of each Town Hall meeting. We hypothesize Town Hall participants will demonstrate pre-to-post increases in: knowledge of the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccine trials and vaccines; knowledge of the scientific process and vaccine safety and efficacy; confidence about participating in vaccine trials; trust in receiving the approved vaccines; and readiness to participate in vaccine trials and approved vaccines. Separately, Town Hall participants will be asked if they would like to participate in a vaccine trial; any Town Hall participant indicating interest will be asked to provide contact information, and will receive a follow-up contact from the FIU-RCMI with information and instructions on vaccine trial participation. 1