Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Using a Vaccine Decision Aid Tool

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted health disparities among minority racial groups causing higher COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates. Once the COVID-19 vaccine became available, Black/African American people had low vaccine uptake compared to other races in two large counties of North Carolina, despite the data showing reduced rates of severe disease when vaccinated. Attitudes surrounding vaccinations vary among different races, given the historical events of racial abuse, which can lead to vaccine hesitancy. A community health organization that supported underserved communities partnered with the DNP student to help improve the message surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. The DNP student created a COVID-19 vaccine decision aid tool and trained community health leaders on how to use this method with patients. The leaders provided feedback via surveys. All community health leaders (N=4) were taught, and 50% reported increased confidence levels post-implementation. The leaders encountered 13 patients in the office setting, and mostly positive feedback with rationale was provided on the usefulness of the COVID-19 decision aid tool. The project positively affected the community health leaders and improved the conversation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. Recommendations for future study include tracking vaccine uptake before and after the intervention, asking for patient feedback, and expanding it to gain a variety of healthcare workers' perceptions.