The team in Prince George's County, MD was recently featured in the Washington Post for their work organizing COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Maryland. Their initiative, HAIR (Health Advocates In-Reach and Research), promotes vaccination at Black-owned salons and barbershops serving predominantly Black and Latino clientele across the state. The White House has also announced a plan to recruit 1,000 barbershops and salons across the country to increase vaccine uptake through June.

The CommuniVax team in Idaho recently had their vaccine promotion activities profiled in the Idaho Capital Sun, including among racial minority groups and mixed-immigration status families.

The Covid Vaccine Is Free, but Not Everyone Believes That. From the beginning, health officials and government leaders have told the public it won’t cost anything. And there have been few reports of people experiencing charges. Even so, some unvaccinated adults cite concerns about a surprise bill as a reason for not getting the shot. Many of them are accustomed to a health system in which the bills are frequent, large and often unexpected. (New York Times, 6/1/21)

Transplants Force Patients to Amass Vaccinations to Beat Covid. Emerging research is now showing that these patients, who suppress their immune system with drugs so their bodies don’t reject donated organs, are dramatically less likely to develop protective antibodies using the authorized vaccine dosage. That’s spurring some recipients to get extra shots as worries mount over the end of pandemic restrictions and as U.S. vaccine supply outpaces demand. (Bloomberg, 6/1/21)

Why Are So Many of My Fellow Health Workers Unvaccinated? Studies have also shown that health care providers are some of the most trusted sources of information on vaccines in the general public. If frontline health workers remain unconvinced and unprotected, it’s an obstacle to getting everyone to full vaccination. (New York Times, 5/28/21)

See also: 117 staffers sue over Houston hospital’s vaccine mandate, saying they don’t want to be ‘guinea pigs’ (Washington Post, 5/29/21)

“I’m Not Gonna Put That On My Kids”: Gendered Opposition to New Public Health Initiatives. Nationally representative surveys of 1,946 parents reveal that mothers are significantly more likely than other parents to oppose school-required immunizations against COVID-19 and significantly more likely to report planning not to vaccinate their children. In-depth interviews with a socioeconomically, politically, and racially/ethnically diverse group of mothers link these patterns to mothers’ beliefs that they can control the risks of COVID-19 (including through use of masks) but not the risks of COVID-19 vaccines. (SocArXiv, 5/21)

I’m a Pediatrician. Get Your Child Vaccinated. It shouldn’t be so hard: Now that we have safe and effective vaccines, COVID-19 is a vaccine-preventable disease in children 12 and up. Kids no longer need to get sick with the coronavirus, nor do they need to get MIS-C or long COVID. They should be out living their life, safe from the virus and posing no danger to others. What the vaccines give your child is immunity without disease. (The Atlantic, 5/29/21)

Pandemic Profiteers: The Business of Anti-Vaxx. In this report, CCDH exposes the network of businesses, nonprofits, political action committees, affiliate schemes and social media marketing empires that form the AntiVaxx Industry. While small businesses struggled through the pandemic, these enterprises reaped at least $1.5 million in PPP loans from the US government. (Center for Countering Digital Hate, 6/21)

When Vaccine Apathy, Not Hesitancy, Drives Vaccine Disinterest. Apathy is not synonymous with antivaccination concepts. People who are apathetic about vaccines may have weakly negative attitudes toward vaccines in general, but these attitudes are the not strongly held and highly defended attitudes that characterize people with antivaccine positions. (JAMA, 6/2/21)

See also: The 6 reasons Americans aren’t getting vaccinated (Vox, 6/2/21)

Black community tackles vaccine hesitancy in Alabama but Trump supporters resist. Alabama and the neighboring state of Mississippi have for months had the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with vaccine hesitancy underwritten by different forces in various locations across the state. In some areas, political leaders have retreated from public engagement on the issue, while in others, including Tuskegee, local leadership has played a vital role in pushing rates above the state average. (The Guardian, 6/3/21)

Foster and migrant kids shut out from Covid vaccinations. Because the vaccine, from Pfizer, has not received full regulatory approval, it has a murky status compared to the battery of routine vaccinations recommended by federal agencies. That means kids in many states can only receive it with a parent or guardian’s consent — a hurdle that’s impossible to meet for many children separated from their biological parents. (POLITICO, 5/30/21)

How children are exacerbating the vaccine divide between blue and red states. Unfortunately, the trendline of where children are getting vaccinated so far shows an expected but still disappointing development. The same places where adults aren't getting vaccinated are not seeing children getting vaccinated either, which will only exacerbate the growing discrepancies in the places where the most people are protected from the virus. (CNN, 5/30/21)

Wait, Vaccine Lotteries Actually Work? Some people are highly motivated to get vaccinated. Some people are highly motivated not to. But some folks might just see the whole thing as slightly more inconvenient for them than it is useful for society. (Wired, 6/3/21)

For Many Workers, Change in Mask Policy Is a Nightmare. More than a dozen retail, hospitality and fast-food workers across the country interviewed by The New York Times expressed alarm that their employers had used the C.D.C. guidance to make masks optional for vaccinated customers. Some said they had been vaccinated but worried they could still get sick or infect family members who were not or could not get vaccinated. Others said they had yet to be vaccinated. (New York Times, 6/2/21)

See also: Unvaccinated Americans Twice As Likely To Feel Comfortable Ditching Masks, Poll Finds As Mandates Lift (Forbes, 5/18/21)

Some U.S. states have higher vaccination rates inside prisons than outside. While most of the United States’ prison systems have struggled to vaccinate inmates, those in California and some other states have outperformed vaccination rates among the general public. And experts say their success may offer clues about how to persuade skeptical people outside correctional facilities to get vaccinated. (New York Times, 6/1/21)

Will the Excelsior Pass, New York’s Vaccine Passport, Catch On? Officials are hoping that it can help New Yorkers feel confident about the safety of businesses and jump-start a statewide economy that is still reeling from losses experienced during the pandemic. But in order for that to happen, they will need more people and businesses to start using it and vaccine passports to become more universally accepted. (New York Times, 6/1/21)

See also: Digital Vaccine Credentials (GAO, 6/3/21)

Biden declares June a ‘national month of action’ in bid to boost vaccinations. Biden has set a goal of getting at least one shot into the arms of 70 percent of the country’s adults by July Fourth. As part of the effort, the White House on Wednesday unveiled an array of incentives, including free food delivery, baseball tickets, Xboxes and chances to win cruise tickets, groceries for a year and free airline flights. (Washington Post, 6/2/21)

Companies can mandate COVID-19 vaccine, incentivize workers to get shot, EEOC says. Employers are allowed to require the COVID-19 vaccine, and can also legally provide incentives, including cash, to workers who get jabbed, according to updated guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Companies must still provide reasonable accommodation for employees who are exempt from mandatory immunization under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. (CBS, 6/2/21)

COVID-19 Vaccines and the US National Interest. Nationalism is no way to confront a virus that is indifferent to nationality. Now that safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are available, the US has four good reasons to lead a Marshall Plan-like effort to immunize the world's poor countries. (Project Syndicate, 6/1/21)

Moderna files for full U.S. approval of COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Tuesday filed for full U.S. approval of its COVID-19 vaccine for adults, the second drugmaker to do so after Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech sought full clearance for their vaccine last month. (Reuters, 6/1/21)

COVID-19 vaccine benefits still outweigh risks, despite possible rare heart complications. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination enormously outweigh the rare, possible risk of heart-related complications, including inflammation of the heart muscle, or myocarditis. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, a global force for longer, healthier lives, urges all adults and children ages 12 and older in the U.S. to receive a COVID vaccine as soon as they can. (American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, 5/23/21)

Vaccine protection may diminish need for yearly boosters, scientists say. “I would be surprised if we actually needed a yearly booster shot,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who advises the Food and Drug Administration. He and others point to ways the immune system remembers the coronavirus so that once original antibodies fade, the body’s defenses can swing back into action if a person is exposed again. (Los Angeles Times, 6/2/21)