July 22, 2021
Increasing vaccination rates in underserved King County communities
A new project from the University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center (UW HPRC) aims to increase vaccination rates for underserved communities within King County.
The project is made possible by $500,000 in funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data yielded through this project will contribute to the Connecting Behavioral Science to COVID-19 Vaccine Demand (CBS-CVD) Network, a national network of which the UW HPRC is one of 26 member centers included.
Researchers from the UW HPRC will collaborate with local community members and stakeholders to interview and conduct focus groups with community members from historically underserved communities. The researchers will target underserved communities that report lower vaccination rates and higher infection and death rates.
From these discussions, the researchers hope to understand barriers to existing COVID-19 vaccination sites, identify preferred vaccination sites and communication channels, as well as communicate effects on vaccinations. This information will be utilized in subsequent local outreach efforts and inform other communities across the U.S. how to increase vaccination rates.