The second national CommuniVax report, "Carrying Equity in COVID-19 Vaccination Forward: Guidance Informed by Communities of Color," is now available! Drawing upon rapid research conducted with Black and Hispanic/Latino communities across the country, the report provides guidance on adapting COVID-19 vaccination efforts to achieve greater vaccine coverage in underserved populations and develop sustainable, locally appropriate mechanisms to advance health equity.

To learn more, view our latest webinar featuring members of CommuniVax's local teams and the Working Group on Equity in COVID-19 Vaccination.

Acceptability of Adolescent COVID-19 Vaccination Among Adolescents and Parents of Adolescents — United States, April 15–23, 2021. In April 2021, 52% of unvaccinated adolescents aged 13–17 years and 56% of parents of unvaccinated adolescents aged 12–17 years reported intent for adolescent COVID-19 vaccination. The most common factors that would increase vaccination intent were receiving more information about adolescent COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy. (CDC, 7/16/21)

How to talk to the Latino Gen Z Community about the COVID-19 Vaccines. NHMA is part of a White House working group that meets weekly to discuss our vaccination efforts in the Latino community. The White House has nearly completed its goal of getting 70% of the population above the age of 30 vaccinated. They have now set their sights on vaccinating the remainder of the younger population. The webinar will take place on July 28, 2021, 7 PM ET. (National Hispanic Medical Association, 7/21)

They were afraid of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. How a talk with the family doctor changed their minds. There is a lot riding on conversations like these, which play out daily in doctor’s offices across the country. At stake is the health of the patient, the health of the wider community and the end of the pandemic. (Toronto Star, 7/9/21)

See also: Focus Group: Why We Got Vaccinated (deBeaumont Foundation, 7/21)

Fauci Says It’s ‘Horrifying’ To See CPAC Crowd Cheering Anti-Vaccine Remarks. Polling has shown increasingly high levels of vaccine hesitancy among Republicans. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week showed 93% of Democrats say they’d either received a vaccine or planned to, while just 49% of Republicans said the same. (Huffington Post, 7/11/21)

Promoting Vaccine Confidence in Local Communities through Partnership with Regional Health Offices. This initiative seeks to expand traditional immunization partnerships to plan, implement, and evaluate evidence-based practices and develop novel approaches to increase confidence in vaccines in local communities, particularly partnerships with minority-serving or other advocacy organizations that work with populations with low vaccination rates (e.g., African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans; residents in rural communities, medical assistants; some immigrant and refugee communities; and young adults and teens and adolescents. (Grants.gov, 7/9/21)

Maybe We’re Asking Vaccine Skeptics the Wrong Question. If you’re one of the millions of people who have already chosen to get one of the federally approved vaccines, you don’t need to be persuaded that it’s the smart decision. But many other people do. They’re wary of the vaccines, and they think they can avoid vaccination or wait till they’re ready. That’s a mistake, because all of us are going to get vaccinated one way or the other. (Slate, 7/14/21)

Experts warn full Covid-19 vaccine approval is no quick fix for hesitancy. Increasingly, some academics and physicians have pushed back on the popular narrative that the FDA is needlessly delaying full approvals for the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus shots — and spurring vaccine hesitancy by doing so. While full approvals might encourage a handful of Americans to finally get vaccinated, they argue, it’s more important for the agency to make clear that the eventual approvals are motivated by science and not by public pressure. (STAT News, 7/12/21)

Health Misinformation Reports and Publications. Preventing and addressing health misinformation is a major priority for the Surgeon General. In a new Surgeon General’s Advisory, the Surgeon General is warning the American public about the urgent threat of health misinformation and calling for a whole-of-society approach to address health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.. (HHS, 7/15/21)

Gen Z Is Feeling 'Meh' About The Vaccine. The White House Is Calling In The Pop Stars. On Wednesday, President Biden hung out with Olivia Rodrigo, an 18-year-old pop star beloved by Gen Z. Rodrigo, who currently has the number one album in the country and whose song "Drivers License" has been a radio staple for months, recorded PSA videos with Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci and made an appearance in the White House briefing room to promote coronavirus vaccines. (NPR, 7/15/21)

Vaccinated teachers and students don’t need masks, CDC says. The nation’s top public health agency is not advising schools to require shots for teachers and vaccine-eligible kids. And it’s not offering guidance on how teachers can know which students are vaccinated or how parents will know which teachers are immunized. (AP News, 7/9/21)

Evaluation of Health Equity in COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plans in the United States. In this cross-sectional study, most COVID-19 vaccination plans were created without advisement from a health equity committee. This is concerning because there is a disproportionate burden of severe COVID-19 disease and mortality among racial and ethnic minority groups. However, minority group representatives were present in only 67% of health equity committees and 16% of all reported vaccination plans. (JAMA, 7/2/21)

Vaccination rate among immigrants held by ICE remains low as infections surge. ICE did not say whether any of the detainees have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires one dose. The agency also did not provide a tally of detained immigrants who have refused vaccination. For comparison, more than 83,000 people in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons — or 54% of the federal inmate population — have been fully vaccinated. (CBS News, 7/9/21)

Tennessee's former top vaccine official: 'I am afraid for my state.' On Monday, July 12, the Tennessee Department of Health fired Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the top vaccine official in the Tennessee state government. Fiscus said she was scapegoated to appease Republican state lawmakers who are angry about efforts to vaccinate teenagers. After losing her job, Fiscus released a 1,200-word statement about the ordeal. (Tennessean, 7/12/21)

American Indians have the highest Covid vaccination rate in the US. Being so disproportionately affected led to a sense of urgency toward vaccination among American Indians and Alaska Natives. And many IHS affiliates stepped up, showing early success with vaccination education and campaigns specifically for Indigenous communities, some of whom would otherwise have trouble accessing coronavirus vaccines. (PBS, 7/6/21)

After Criticism, OC’s Homeless Vaccine Clinic Showcases A New Strategy. This week, Orange County Health Care Agency workers opened a pop-up Coronavirus vaccine clinic in Anaheim’s La Palma Park to immunize the numerous homeless people known to gather there after substantial criticism for leaving such residents behind. The move comes after Voice of OC reported about those living on the streets who may have been left out of county officials’ recent push to inoculate the general population. (Voice of OC, 7/12/21)

See also: COVID vaccine hesitancy by King County ZIP code — and why some neighborhoods have much higher rates (Seattle Times, 7/12/21)

Arizona Needs To Better Incorporate Spanish Into Its Vaccination Plan, Activists Say. There is Spanish-language information about the pandemic in Arizona, but it's been slow to roll out. The State Health Department didn't offer online vaccine registration in Spanish until February, two months after registration started. The department says it was a configuration issue. In those early months, the state established large-scale vaccination sites in stadiums and arenas, but critics say they weren't accessible to all Spanish-speaking communities. (NPR, 7/12/21)

Framework to Address Health Disparities through Collaborative Policy Efforts: Demonstration Projects. These particular cooperative agreements align with the OASH priority on the elimination of health disparities and the following HHS Strategic Plan goals: (1) Strategic Goal 1: Reform, Strengthen, and Modernize the Nation's Healthcare System; (2) Strategic Goal 2: Protect the Health of Americans Where They Live, Learn, Work, and Play; and (3) Strategic Goal 3: Strengthen the Economic and Social Well-Being of Americans. (Grants.gov, 7/9/21)

See also: Technical Assistance Webinar - Framework to Address Health Disparities through Collaborative Policy Efforts (HHS, 7/21)

COVID Vaccines Available At 3 ‘L’ Stations Monday As Chicago Tries To Get Shots To More People. Officials have started closing down mass vaccination sites in favor of smaller events in communities, like the “L” station vaccinations. They hope that can help more people get vaccinated as the number of people getting the shots has slowed significantly in recent weeks. (Block Club Chicago, 7/12/21)

See also: GOTVax: A Novel Mobile Covid-19 Vaccine Program (NEJM Catalyst, 6/30/21)

Nine NFL teams above 85 percent vaccination threshold with two weeks until training camp. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported that, as of Monday, seven teams are above the 85% threshold for player vaccinations, per a source informed of the situation. That number jumped to eight on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday. (NFL, 7/12/21)

The Economic Benefits of Vaccinations. Getting inoculated should be considered an investment not only in society’s health but also in the nation’s ongoing economic recovery efforts. The economic benefits of vaccination can come in a number of forms, with vaccinated people breathing literal and figurative sighs of relief as their finances improve. (The Center for American Progress, 7/15/21)

Inside the Weird, Thriving World of Fake Vaccine Cards. Who would go through all that trouble for a fake shot? Along with selling illegal cards, channels on Telegram spread false information about COVID vaccines that might urge someone to get a fake card, like the idea that the vaccines have more negative than positive effects on health and that they might cause menstrual problems. (Slate, 7/14/21)

Under Trump, Republicans touted the coronavirus vaccines. Now, under Biden, they’re questioning them. While it is not inherently contradictory to praise the vaccines while also asking questions about them, most of these Republican questions are premised on misinformation. It marks a significant shift after those same Republicans touted the vaccines during the Trump administration, and it comes as infections and deaths have grown among the unvaccinated and dropped among the vaccinated. (Washington Post, 7/14/21)

The GOP's misguided pushback against door-to-door vaccine outreach. Officials now believe the most effective outreach doesn't come from celebrities, but rather, from trusted local leaders, neighbors, and family physicians making direct pitches to holdouts. This simple realization is at the heart of the administration's plan to identify areas with low vaccination rates and make a new, concerted effort. (MSNBC, 7/9/21)

Coalition says health workers should be required to get coronavirus vaccine. The statement and accompanying guidelines — signed by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and five other medical groups — come amid a raging debate about health care, as some organizations impose new vaccine requirements and as infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci suggested last weekend that “there should be more mandates” at the local level to curb virus spread. (Washington Post, 7/13/21)

US Catholic colleges and churches should require vaccination. The pro-life witness of the Catholic Church on the necessity of getting vaccinated should not be limited to our colleges and universities. Parochial schools should consider requiring vaccination, too. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should ask all pastors to preach, and preach repeatedly, on the moral necessity of getting vaccinated. (National Catholic Reporter, 7/15/21)

Should Colleges and Universities Mandate Vaccination for COVID-19? Debating Public Health & Community Trust. This webinar brings together top experts from multiple disciplines and different points of view. They will debate the ethical, legal, and policy issues raised by COVID vaccine mandates. Reflecting on the history of public health and realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, they will consider the effectiveness of mandates in advancing community health, the legal basis, and the impact on equity and trust. The webinar will be held on July 23, 2021, 12-1:30 PM CT. (Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences, 7/21)

Panetta calls on Biden to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for military. “I frankly think the president ought to issue an order requiring everybody in the military to get a COVID-19 shot, period. That's an issue involving our national security,” Panetta, who served under the Obama administration, said. “The last damn thing you need is to have those in the military that are our warriors unable to respond to a mission because they've gotten COVID-19. There's no excuse for that.” (The Hill, 7/10/21)

See also: Alabama military base is first in the U.S. to require vaccination proof amid rising covid-19 rates (Washington Post, 7/14/21)

FDA adds new warning on Johnson & Johnson vaccine related to rare autoimmune disorder. About 100 preliminary reports of Guillain-Barré have been detected in vaccine recipients after the administration of 12.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States, according to a companion statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors vaccine safety systems with the FDA. (Washington Post, 7/12/21)

See also: Here's the Deal with the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (Shape, 7/15/21)

Mix-and-Match COVID Vaccines: The Case Is Growing, but Questions Remain. Most vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 must be given in two doses, but multiple studies now back up the idea that mixing the Oxford–AstraZeneca jab and the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine triggers an immune response similar to — or even stronger than — two doses of either vaccine. (Scientific American, 7/9/21)

See also: Quarter-dose of Moderna COVID vaccine still rouses a big immune response (Nature, 7/9/21)

Fauci Says Current Vaccines Will Stand Up To The Delta Variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said studies continue to show that vaccines are not only effective against the virus, they're also highly effective at preventing serious disease or hospitalization. "No matter what study you look at, the protection against severe disease leading to hospitalization is always well within the 90%, regardless of the study, regardless of the country," Fauci said. (NPR, 7/8/21)

Association Between BNT162b2 Vaccination and Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pregnant Women. In a retrospective cohort study that included 15 060 pregnant women in Israel, vaccination with BNT162b2 vs nonvaccination was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio for incident SARS-CoV-2 infection of 0.22; this was statistically significant. (JAMA, 7/12/21)

The world will not exit Covid-19 pandemic without booster shots, vaccine developer says. The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, criticized the notion of giving residents of wealthy countries a third shot before health workers and older adults in many countries get their first Covid-19 jab. And Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said people are “jumping the gun” if they think booster shots are on the verge of being authorized. (STAT, 7/13/21)