The disproportionate toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latino/a, Black, and lower-income communities highlighted long-standing healthcare disparities. Addressing these disparities requires fundamental changes to health care delivery and health information delivery.
A recent study by Change Research on behalf of the Latino Anti-Disinformation Lab, found that almost 4 in 10 Latino/a respondents report having seen material or information that makes them think the COVID-19 vaccines are not safe or effective. In addition, 6 in 10 Latino/as know someone in their household or community who is unwilling to take the vaccine because they believe it will be harmful to them.
-Among Latinos who have not been vaccinated, the majority say they do not plan on getting a COVID-19 vaccine or are hesitant to get one because they believe it is not safe (51%) – this number rises to 67% among Spanish-dominant speakers.
-Latina women (48%) are less hesitant to take the vaccine than Latino men (54%); however more than one-third (34%) of women are more likely to only accept a specific vaccine versus only 25% of men.
-Of those respondents who are unsure about getting vaccinated, Latinos under the age of 50 (78%) and that speak Spanish as their primary language at home (49%) are among the most hesitant to get the vaccine.
-Nearly 40% of Latinx respondents say they have seen material or information that makes them think the COVID-19 vaccine is not safe or effective. Another 20% say they have directly received wrong or harmful information about the vaccine, primarily on Facebook (53%) and messaging apps (43%), such as SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, etc.
How To Counteract The Anti-Vaccine Movement
With little or no evidence-based information to back up claims of vaccine danger, anti-vaccine activists have relied on the power of storytelling to infect an entire generation with fear of and doubt about vaccines.
The tools used by the medical and public health communities to counteract the anti-vaccine movement include statistics, research, and other evidence-based information, often delivered verbally or in the form of the CDC's Vaccine Information Statements.
This approach may not be effective enough on its own to convince that vaccines are safe, effective, and crucial to their children's health. Utilizing some of the storytelling strategies used by the anti-vaccine movement, in addition to evidence-based vaccine information, could potentially offer providers, public health officials, and pro-vaccine parents an opportunity to mount a much stronger defense against anti-vaccine messaging.
