Man getting COVID vaccination

After working with micropolitan community leaders to identify barriers community members face in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, we took action to address these barriers, including holding vaccination clinics and creating and sharing resources in multiple languages.

Team members:

  • UIowa: Natoshia Askelson (lead), Nicole Gauthreaux, Becky Bucklin, Rima Afifi, Mark Vander Weg, Aaron Scherer, Nicole Novak, Patricia O'Neill
  • PRC-RH Students: Stephanie Evett, Cathleen Zbylut
  • Partners: Iowa Public Health Association, Iowa Immunizes Coalition, and over 100 community partners

Project dates: 2021-2022

Funding sources: PRC Vaccine Confidence Network (VCN)

Project tags: COVID-19, Community engagement, Evidence-based interventions, Health equity

Details

 

Description

COVID-19 vaccination rates are lower in rural areas than urban areas, and rural Iowans continue to die at higher rates from COVID-19 than their urban counterparts. Micropolitan and rural communities continue to be heavily impacted by the pandemic. Our CDC Vaccine Confidence Network (VCN) project focused on working with micropolitan community leaders to identify barriers faced by community members in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

In late spring/early summer 2020, we partnered with Iowa Immunizes and their leading organization Iowa Public Health Association to conduct guided discussions with over 90 community leaders. These leaders included public health leaders, chamber of commerce directors, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach representatives, faith leaders, and refugee, immigrant, and migrant serving organizations. Through these conversations, we heard about initiatives that communities had tried, what they felt did not work or would not work for their community, and what they would like to try to increase COVID-19 vaccination in their communities. We identified existing gaps in vaccination access as well as common reasons for vaccine hesitancy in Iowa micropolitan communities. In response, we:

  • Worked to hold vaccination clinics with partners like Hy-Vee (a local grocery store chain in Iowa) for underserved populations
  • Created a toolkit for pharmacists in Iowa centered around equitable and accessible distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines
  • Worked with a virtual review panel of community members to develop, test, and translate messages to address concerns that lead to vaccine hesitancy among micropolitan residents
  • Created a list of existing translated resources on COVID-19 mitigation and vaccination for languages that leaders had identified as being needed for micropolitan communities in Iowa
  • Distributed a health care provider survey and a clinic manager survey for providers and clinic managers in OB-GYN, Family Medicine, and Internal Medicine to identify barriers and facilitators to recommending the COVID-19 vaccine
  • Conducted follow up interviews with health care providers in the above-mentioned fields
  • Conducted interviews with people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to conceive, or parents (populations identified as having low rates of vaccine confidence)

 

Resources, Media, & Publications 

Resources:

Media: 

Papers:

  • Thompson H., Askelson N. M., Bucklin R., Gauthreaux N., Faber E., Ball C., Yang S., Steere E. (2023). Organization-level factors associated with burnout: Guided discussions with micropolitan public health workers during COVID-19. J Occup Environ Med. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002837
  • Scherer, A.M., Gidengil, C.A., Gedlinske, A.M., Parker, A.M., Askelson, N.M., Woodworth, K.R., Petersen, C.A., & Lindley, M.C. (2022). COVID-19 vaccination intentions, concerns and facilitators among US parents of children ages 6 months through 4 years. JAMA Network Open, 5(8). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.27437
  • Scherer, A.M., Parker, A.M., Gidengil, C.A., Gedlinske, A.M., Askelson, N.M., Petersen, C.A., & Lindley, M.C. (2022). COVID-19 vaccine uptake and intentions following US Food and Drug Administration approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. JAMA Internal Medicine, 182(6), 678-680. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.0761
  • Scherer, A.M., Fedlinske, A.M., Parker, A.M., Gidengil, C.A., Askelson, N.M., Petersen, C.A., Woodworth, K.R., & Lindley, M.C. (2021). Acceptability of Adolescent COVID-19 vaccination among adolescents and parents of adolescents – United States, April 15-23, 2021. MMRW Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(28), 997-1003. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7028e1
  • Ryan, G., Askelson, N.M., Miotto, M.B., Rosal, M.C., Pbert, L., & Lemon, S.C. (2021). Lessons learned from Human Papillomavirus Vaccination to increase uptake of adolescent COVID-19 vaccination. Journal of Adolescent Health, 70(3), 359-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.025

Presentations: 

  • Gauthreaux, N., Thompson, H., Morris, C., Bucklin, R., Tucker Reinders, L., Faber, E., Vander Weg, M., Afifi, R., Scherer, A., & Askelson, N. (2022, Nov 8). The COVID-19 infodemic in rural micropolitan communities in the Midwest: A qualitative analysis of Facebook comments to vaccine advertisements. American Public Health Association annual meeting. 150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation Leading the Path toward Equity. Boston, MA: November 6-8, 2022
  • Thompson, H., Bucklin, B., Gauthreaux, N., Ball, C., Yang, S., Steere, E., Maldonado, A., Faber, E., & Askelson, N.M. (2022, May 3). Identifying organizational predictors of burnout in the public health workforce during COVID-19: Qualitative interviews with Iowa public health leaders. Oral presentation at: Public Health Conference of Iowa. Ames, IA: May 3-5, 2022

Posters:

  • Thompson, H., Bucklin, B., Gauthreaux, N., Ball, C., Steere., E., Faber, E., & Askelson, N. (2022, Nov 8). Organizational burnout in the public health workforce: Analyzing guided discussions with local public health department from a midwestern state during COVID-19. 150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation Leading the Path toward Equity. Boston, MA: November 6-8, 2022 
  • Daly, E., Evans., S., Lee, A., Bucklin, R., Maldonado, A., Berto, S., Askelson, N., & Afifi, R. Identifying COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Needs in Ottumwa, Iowa. Poster presented at the Public Health Conference of Iowa. Virtual: Apr 5-9