Vaccination uptake (barriers/facilitators and interventions) in adults from underserved or hard-to-reach communities
Vaccination against COVID-19 is one of the essential ways of bringing the current pandemic under control. Research shows that certain groups are less likely to get vaccinated. These groups include black and minority ethnic groups, traveller communities, refugees/asylum seekers and the homeless. We need to understand what prevents people from getting vaccinated and what encourages them to get vaccinated. This will help us plan the delivery of vaccinations in a way that encourages more people to come forward. We want to achieve a high level of vaccination in the population and increase everyone’s safety.
Evidence to help us understand why people don’t get vaccinated is currently limited. Most of the evidence we found related to other vaccines and so may not apply to the current situation. It was hoped we could get more evidence from a study in progress at the time of this review. However, this study which was looking at actions to improve uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations in the UK Black, Asian and minority ethnic population did not finish on time and so has not been included in this review.
Key Findings:
The things that stop people getting vaccinated are:
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Lack of knowledge
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Concerns about the safety of vaccines and possible side-effects
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Mistrust of government and public health agencies
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Language barriers
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Believing they personally are at low risk
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Difficulty of getting to where the vaccine is given
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Vaccines not being an accepted part of their culture
The things that make it more likely that people will get vaccinated are:
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Being given information about the vaccine and being encouraged to get vaccinated by someone they trust
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Communications in their language and in keeping with their culture
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Translators at vaccination clinics
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Community-based educational campaigns
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Holding community-based clinics at places where people are likely to go so for example for the poor and homeless to have clinics at food banks and shelters
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Vaccination centres in places which are easy to reach.
Policy and practice implications
The quality of evidence on what encourages people to get vaccinated is low. Therefore, the government and health authorities need to take a multi-pronged approach. They should work with community leaders as trusted people to provide information to their communities and encourage people to get vaccinated.
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