The CommuniVax coalition website is live! Download data collection instruments from our local teams, review our checklists for equitable vaccination rollouts, watch our experts share insights on vaccine safety, racism and medicine, and vaccine hesitancy, and register for upcoming events.

Our next webinar, "Community-Centric Public Health Practice: COVID-19 and Beyond," will be held on April 20, 2021, 2 PM EDT. The session will examine the roles health departments can take in achieving health equity. Taking a social determinants of health lens, the conversation will address equitable and optimal levels of health outcomes for all, starting with COVID-19 vaccination. Speakers will discuss real-world examples, best practices, ways forward for health departments pursuing health equity and how to build recovered, resilient communities. Register today!

When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated. We’re still learning how vaccines will affect the spread of COVID-19. After you’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you should keep taking precautions—like wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces—in public places until we know more. These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are fully vaccinated. They are not intended for healthcare settings. (CDC, 4/2/21)

Vaccine Cheat Days Are Adding Up. The harm is, frankly, mathematical. Over time, our vaccine cheat days start to add up. It might truly be innocuous for a few people to cut a couple of corners on occasion. But eventually, a series of flubs will allow exposures, which will in turn beget disease. Our shortcuts also signal to others that it’s okay to chill out when it is very much not. (The Atlantic, 4/4/21)

New study finds 1 in 3 U.S. mothers don’t plan to vaccinate their children. Researchers Jessica McCrory Calarco and Elizabeth Anderson combined data from a nationally representative survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. parents and in-depth interviews with a racially diverse group of mothers and found that mothers were more reluctant than fathers to get their children immunized against COVID-19. Their study has not yet been peer-reviewed. (19th News, 3/31/21)

Tegan and Sara Foundation LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes Survey. We’re using this information to better understand if, and how, attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine might differ by gender and sexual orientation. The results will be used to learn more about our communities, influence public health and policy officials, and ensure we all get the healthcare information we need. (Tegan and Sara Foundation, 4/21)

Menstrual experiences with COVID-19 vaccines. This research study is about your experiences with your period or other menstrual bleeding (such as "spotting") and associated symptoms after receiving at least one dose of a vaccine for COVID-19. Side effects are a common and even important element of the vaccine response, and bleeding patterns can be an important way to understand how our immune systems are activated. (University of Illinois, 4/21)

White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort. The deeply held spiritual convictions or counterfactual arguments may vary. But across white evangelical America, reasons not to get vaccinated have spread as quickly as the virus that public health officials are hoping to overcome through herd immunity. The opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories. (New York Times, 4/5/21)

National Academy of Medicine members urge Black Americans to get vaccinated. In a new video released today, Black members of the National Academy of Medicine are urging Black Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them. The scientists, doctors, nurses, public health experts, and other health professionals who make up this group of NAM members say that they have reviewed the research and have confidence in the vaccines. (National Academy of Medicine, 3/30/21)

The Rising Politicization of Covid Vaccines. Recent polls and political tides, particularly in red states, suggest that if the country is to reach herd immunity, simply making the vaccine available may not be enough. A sizable minority of skeptics remain wary of being vaccinated, polls suggest, with questions about the vaccine’s safety lying at the heart of their doubt. (New York Times, 4/6/21)

See also: ‘It’s also for other people’: An essential worker explains why she got vaccinated (The Oaklandside, 4/6/21)

The complicated geography of vaccine hesitancy. Views of vaccination vary widely by state. In some places, such as Vermont, nearly everyone either indicates a desire to be vaccinated or reports having already received a vaccine dose. In other states, such as North Dakota, hesitancy is far more common. In every state, though, the percentage of people saying either that they got a vaccine dose (and plan to complete the regimen) and those who say they definitely will get the vaccine has increased since January. (Washington Post, 3/31/21)

Give physician offices a greater shot at vaccine supply. Physicians play an important role in the massive effort to vaccinate our nation for COVID-19, not only as trusted counselors and confidants but as credible sources of information to build vaccine confidence and dispel the mountain of misinformation circulating online. The time has come for physicians to take a more commanding position. (American Medical Association, 3/31/21)

Willingness to Receive a COVID-19 Vaccination Among Incarcerated or Detained Persons in Correctional and Detention Facilities — Four States, September–December 2020. Among incarcerated or detained participants at correctional and detention facilities in four states who were surveyed before authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, 45% were willing to be vaccinated. Willingness to be vaccinated was lower among participants who were younger, identified as Black/African American, and lived in jails. (CDC, 4/2/21)

See also: As States Expand Vaccine Eligibility, Many People in Prison Still Wait for Shots (The Marshall Project, 4/6/21)

We Can Do This: COVID-19 Public Education Campaign. The HHS COVID-19 public education campaign is a national initiative to increase public confidence in and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines while reinforcing basic prevention measures such as mask wearing and social distancing. Through a nationwide network of trusted messengers and consistent, fact-based public health messaging, the campaign helps the public make informed decisions about their health and COVID-19, including steps to protect themselves and their communities. (HHS, 4/21)

81% of teachers vaccinated or have appointments, according to union survey. This latest metric is a measure of progress made toward President Biden's call in early March to prioritize vaccinations for teachers by April 1, but also indicates a portion of educators are still waiting for their vaccinations. (CBS, 4/6/21)

See also: Getting teachers vaccinated is half the battle (Epicenter NYC, 4/5/21)

African Immigrant Health Groups Battle Trans-Atlantic Tide Of Vaccine Disinformation. In the United States, skepticism about the vaccine can be found in all segments of the population, including African Americans. However, efforts to address hesitancy among Black people often overlook African immigrants, who get much of their information from their countries of origin. (NPR, 4/5/21)

See also: Preparing for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines in US Immigrant Communities: Strategies for Allocation, Distribution, and Communication (AJPH, 4/21)

Talking to Friends and Family About COVID-19 Vaccines! Join the Made to Save Coalition for a workshop about how to talk to your friends and family about the COVID-19 vaccines. We'll be joined by Dr. Alice Chen, who will host a Q&A session about the vaccines. Talking to your friends and family about getting COVID-19 vaccinated is one of the best ways you can help the people you care about get the information they need to make a plan to get vaccinated. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 13, 7 PM EDT. (Made to Save Coalition, 4/21)

One-Third of U.S. Troops Opted Out of the COVID-19 Vaccine. Here's Why That Is Dangerous for National Security. These troops may not be co-opted by domestic terrorists, but they are clearly influenced by conspiracy theorists online and they just don’t trust basic science. That is dangerous for U.S. national security. In an increasingly complex digital world, we need our troops to guard against disinformation, trust the data, and believe in science because it is increasingly vital on the battlefield. (TIME, 4/5/21)

See also: Why COVID-19 conspiracy theories persist (PBS, 4/6/21)

Good Practice in Development of Effective Vaccination Messages. This discussion features expert remarks by Dr. Lois Privor-Dumm (Director, Policy, Advocacy & Communications, the International Vaccine Access Center) and aims to explore evidence informed approaches that assess the effectiveness of adult vaccination awareness-raising messages and its impact to encourage vaccine confidence. The webinar will take place on April 21, 2021, 7 AM EST. (Changing the Conversation on Adult Vaccination, 4/21)

Planned Parenthood introduces $2 million bilingual campaign promoting COVID-19 vaccinations. The grassroots campaign entitled “Protect. Every. Body.” includes videos and images and utilizes Planned Parenthood’s social media, email lists and website to spread accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine. (The Hill, 4/8/21)

Why scientists are developing inhaled Covid-19 vaccines. Scientists and drug companies are hustling to find more accessible ways to inoculate people—which includes changing vaccines’ delivery methods. Globally, there are now several Covid-19 vaccine candidates that could be inhaled, instead of injected. (Quartz, 3/31/21)

Study: COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe During Pregnancy And May Protect Baby, Too. A study published recently in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows the vaccines are not only safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women, they may also offer some protection for their babies. (NPR, 4/2/21)

How Alarmed Should We Be About the 15 Million Tossed J&J Vaccines? On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson acknowledged that a huge batch of vaccines—enough for 15 million doses—had to be tossed out after it was found to have been contaminated during the production process. Soon afterward, several outlets reported that the company producing the vaccine at that Baltimore facility, Emergent BioSolutions, had been cited multiple times before for quality control issues. The sheer number of doses that were discarded, and the idea of a “contamination” of a COVID vaccine, has raised plenty of questions. (Slate, 4/2/21)

What we know so far about the effort to vaccinate children. With kids making up about 22 percent of the population in the United States, their immunity is crucial to reaching a national threshold of immunity, which experts estimate to range from 70 up to 90 percent. (National Geographic, 4/2/21)

Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine. A new vaccine for Covid-19 that is entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic. The vaccine, called NDV-HXP-S, is the first in clinical trials to use a new molecular design that is widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines. And the new vaccine could be far easier to make. (New York Times, 4/5/21)

Administration of a Second Dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine After an Immediate Hypersensitivity Reaction With the First Dose: Two Case Reports. Our objective is to provide what we believe to be the first report using graded doses to successfully administer a second dose of the Moderna vaccine to 2 patients who had an immediate hypersensitivity reaction with the first dose. (Annals of Internal Medicine, 4/6/21)

In rare instances, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine linked to blood clots, regulators say. Regulators stressed that the benefits of the vaccine, which was shown to be 76% effective at preventing Covid infections in a large U.S.-based study, still outweigh its risks. (STAT, 4/7/21)

State and Federal Authority to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccination. This report provides an overview of state and federal authority to mandate vaccination. The first part of the report provides background on state and local authority to mandate vaccination under states’ general police power. The second part of the report provides an overview of federal authority to mandate vaccination. (Congressional Research Service, 4/2/21)

President Biden Announces 90% of the Adult U.S. Population will be Eligible for Vaccination and 90% will have a Vaccination Site Within 5 Miles of Home by April 19. The President will announce that the Administration is increasing the number of pharmacies in the federal pharmacy vaccination program from 17,000 to nearly 40,000 across the country and will stand up a dozen more mass vaccination sites by April 19. (White House, 3/29/21)

Former Biden, Trump advisers renew push to delay second Covid vaccine. Advocates of a strategy focused on first doses include Democratic and Republican senators, Trump administration surgeon general Jerome Adams, and at least four physicians or epidemiologists who advised President Biden on pandemic response issues prior to his inauguration, including the prominent surgeon and author Atul Gawande. (STAT, 4/2/21)

Blinken taps COVID coordinator as US prepares to pivot to sharing vaccines overseas. Gayle Smith, former President Barack Obama's head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will serve as Blinken's coordinator for global COVID response and health security. (ABC News, 4/6/21)

Covid-19 Vaccine Passports Are Coming. What Will That Mean? There are so many proposals for what might make up vaccine passports—where the data is held, how frameworks are built to protect it, what the app that delivers it looks like—that it’s a little early to talk about their final form. But experts say there will be no escaping their development and that it is not too soon to discuss whether they will endanger privacy, exacerbate inequity, and create a two-tiered world. (Wired, 4/2/21)

Operationalizing Equity: A Rapid-Cycle Innovation Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination in Black Neighborhoods. A partnership between two health systems and a community-based collaborative created highly effective Covid-19 vaccine clinics to rapidly increase the pace of vaccinations in communities of color in Philadelphia. (New England Journal of Medicine, 4/7/21)

An Unexpected Boon to America’s Vaccine Towns. While lots of rural Americans, particularly in areas without pharmacies, are genuinely struggling to get jabbed, there haven’t been any clear downsides to vaccine tourism for some communities.. (Route Fifty, 4/6/21)

The final insult: Some dying of COVID while awaiting vaccine. More than 247,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. since vaccines first became available mid-December. Officials had warned that dispensing enough vaccines to reach herd immunity would take months. And with the initial vaccine supply extremely limited and the virus running rampant across the nation over the winter, it was a sad reality that some would contract COVID-19 and die before they could be inoculated. (Philly Tribune, 4/3/21)

How the Wealthy Cut the Line During Florida's Frenzied Vaccine Rollout. For three months, we've been reporting around Palm Beach County, the third-largest in the state. It's home to old-monied millionaires but also some of the poorest day laborers and farm workers in America. During those months, we watched Florida's vaccine rollout deteriorate into a virtual free for all and watched as some wealthy and well-connected residents cut the line, leaving other Floridians without a fair shot. (CBS, 4/5/21)

How Wisconsin turned around its lagging vaccination program — and buoyed a Biden health pick. Wisconsin is among the states leading the immunization race. It maintains one of the fastest rates of vaccination, having administered 90 percent of doses delivered as of Saturday. It has found success especially in convincing residents to complete the two-dose series recommended for shots developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. And it has not seen the kind of disparities between urban and rural communities plaguing other states. (Washington Post, 4/4/21)

Equity Impacts of Dollar Store Vaccine Distribution. Adding Dollar General to the current pharmacy partners greatly surpasses the goal set by the Biden administration of having 90% of the population within 5 miles of a vaccine site. We discuss the potential benefits of leveraging these partnerships for other vaccinations, including against influenza. (medRxiv, 4/5/21)

Schools as Vaccine Clinics: Advice From School Leaders Who Made It Work. In December, the Anchorage school district in Alaska launched a large-scale community vaccination clinic. In this video, they offer guidance on how other districts can do the same, including how they’ve structured the clinic itself, lessons they’ve learned and challenges they’ve overcome along the way. (EdWeek, 4/2/21)

Mobile Vaccine Squad Has a Mission: Find and Protect the Neediest. Health departments across the U.S. have deployed mobile units to eliminate challenges like waking up early to schedule appointments, navigating online portals and standing in line, all of which can deter the elderly, disabled or immune-compromised. (CityLab, 4/5/21)

See also: Beating the Pavement to Vaccinate the Underrepresented – and Protect Everyone (U.S. News & World Report, 4/2/21)

Masks Off, Mahi Mahi On. Restaurant Workers Are in a Race for Vaccines. As states open vaccines and restaurants to all, wait staff and food service workers are often left behind. Some chefs have even opened pop-up spots to get their employees shots more quickly. (New York Times, 4/7/21)

Covid-19: With Big Vaccine Push, Navajo Nation Has Tamed Virus. The Navajo Nation, which once had one of the worst coronavirus case rates in the United States, recently reached an extraordinary milestone: zero cases and zero deaths in a 24-hour period. The nation, which has over 300,000 enrolled members, is averaging about 11 new cases a day, far below its peak of 250 in late November. (New York Times, 4/4/21)

Vermont to Give Minority Residents Vaccine Priority. Starting Thursday, Vermont explicitly gave Black adults and people from other minority communities priority status for vaccinations. It follows Montana, which in January announced that Native Americans and other people of color, because they are at higher risk of complications from COVID-19, would be allowed to receive the vaccine. (U.S. News & World Report, 4/5/21)

See also: Asians Lead Vaccination Rate in More Than 20 States: Covid-19 Tracker (Bloomberg, 4/7/21)

Changing Dynamics of COVID Vaccine Supply and Demand. We're a month away from the May deadline for everyone to be eligible to receive the vaccine but what does that mean to the most vulnerable populations? And what does it mean as a fourth surge of the coronavirus is clearly upon us, further complicating plans and questions about allocation, eligibility and distribution? This fourth episode in the CoVEReD series -- COVID Vaccine Equity Research Dialogues -- focuses three top vaccine experts on all these issues. Sign up for CoVEReD newsletters from the University of Pennsylvania here. (CoVEReD, 4/1/21)