An Interdisciplinary Approach to Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Hesitancy Among Community Health Fair Participants in Gwinnett County, GA

Suwanee, GA

Purpose

Vaccine uptake hesitancy is a key factor affecting public health, notably during this current COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing this is of utmost importance and poses a great challenge requiring effective communication and education. Presently, concerns raised by the public regarding hesitancy include uncertainty about vaccine safety, vaccines being produced too quickly, personal fears and beliefs, conspiracy theories, myths, misinformation, and religious leaders’ misinformation to their congregations. The purpose of this project was to identify some barriers for COVID -19 vaccine uptake hesitancy among non-vaccinated individuals attending community health fairs and possibly address their concerns through education and proper communication.

Methods

This service project was conducted over two consecutive health fairs in Gwinnett County, GA held in July and September 2021, respectively, each for 3 hours. The program was governed by an interdisciplinary team of eight students and two faculty advisors from the PCOM Georgia school of pharmacy, doctor of osteopathic medicine and masters of biomedical sciences programs and was carried out as a booth-led discussion with health fair attendees. The team held thorough and interactive sessions with both vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals over the course of each health fair while seeking to ascertain the reasons behind non-vaccinated individuals’ hesitancy. Furthermore, the team educated all participants about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines in contrast to the risks of acquiring COVID-19 without prior immunity. This was in addition to addressing individual concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. Pamphlets debunking common COVID-19 vaccine myths with cited facts were distributed to participants to facilitate communication and provide vaccine education.

Results

As expected per observation and during the booth-led discussions, most of the non vaccinated individuals’ concerns were related to the uncertainty about the COVID-19 vaccines and their safety, fears and beliefs, faith-based hesitations and the myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines prevalent on social media. Surprisingly, most of the participants who refused to take the vaccine disclosed a faith- based rationale. On the contrary, some individuals who delayed to be vaccinated were those who expressed concern about the uncertainty of the appropriate vaccine suitable for them. A subset of individuals also expressed concern about the side effects and a consequent delay of their vaccination due to their perceived risk of down-time due to side effects. Overall, we observed that most individuals who were non-vaccinated expressed concerns governed by fears and uncertainty of the vaccines themselves rather than of the

governed by fears and uncertainty of the vaccines themselves rather than of the COVID-19 virus-induced disease itself.

Conclusion

In Gwinnett County, GA, as in much of the country, vaccine hesitancy is a great challenge posing a threat for adequate vaccine uptake. Individual beliefs and uncertainty can be curtailed through proper communication and education. The myths and conspiracies surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines can be addressed in a grassroots manner with interdisciplinary health professional students under faculty guidance. Increasing public awareness of these concerns through proper education, communication and helping to debunk some of these myths surrounding the COVID 19 vaccine can help alleviate these fears and possibly increase vaccination rates which will consequently bring us closer to herd immunity.