The piece you’re about to read is from Klick Health’s Life (Sciences) After COVID-19 series, a collection of expert perspectives designed to inform and inspire the life sciences community for the coming changes and opportunities we anticipate as a result of this global health crisis.
Health equity is at the center of this response and much of the national conversation.
As the U.S. federal government makes unprecedented investments in vaccines related to the COVID-19 pandemic, health equity is at the center of this response and much of the national conversation. In late March 2021, the Biden Administration launched a long-awaited vaccine public education campaign to address vaccine hesitancy. This program creates a COVID-19 Community Corps of 275 national organizations that can serve as trusted messengers in their communities. In addition, the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act allocated $10 million to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines in high-risk communities and to address vaccine hesitancy.
This POV will dive further into best practices around addressing vaccine hesitancy and how funds used for pandemic response can be used to boost health equity, bolster confidence in the immunization system, and strengthen public health infrastructure.
Pandemic Fuels Health Equity Efforts
As the novel COVID-19 pandemic altered all aspects of life in 2020, attention on the public health system, the economic effects of lockdowns, and the value proposition of vaccines became greater than ever before.
This was overlaid with the long-overdue recognition of systemic racism in American life, including in health care. The pandemic exposed and exacerbated disparities in access, treatment, and outcomes within the healthcare system, demonstrating innovative solutions were urgently needed. The high rates of COVID-19 infection, severe illness, and death among Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, low-income, disabled, and rural communities created an environment where Americans could no longer look away from systemic inequality in American life.
Health equity is at the root of much of the national COVID-19 response. Amid the racial justice protests in summer 2020, extensive efforts were made to increase transparency and inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. As a new presidential administration came into power in early 2021, investing in health equity became paramount to instilling trust as the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign began. This is detailed in the Administration’s national strategy for pandemic response, which roots its goals in equity to achieve economic and social recovery.
The Biden-Harris Administration also named a Health Equity Task Force, a diverse 12-person independent expert advisory board tasked with providing specific recommendations to the President to mitigate inequities caused or exacerbated by the pandemic and to prevent disparities in the future.
In April 2021, the CDC Director for the first time declared racism a public health emergency. This follows the lead of the American Public Health Association, which reports that more than 170 local and state leaders and public health entities have declared racism a public health crisis or emergency.
Health Equity and Vaccines
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Author
Brandi Hight Bank
VP, Public Health & Policy
A strategic communications professional with more than 15 years’ experience at the intersection of public health, public affairs, and policy. Brandi specializes in public health policy communications, specifically planning and executing national public education campaigns. Prior to joining Klick, Brandi held a number of public affairs roles at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the National Vaccine Program Office, which leads and coordinates federal vaccine policy.
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