TFAH Issues COVID-19 Vaccine Policy Brief

This week, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) issued a policy brief on the COVID-19 vaccine entitled, “Building Trust in and Access to a COVID-19 Vaccine Among People of Color and Tribal Nations.” The policy brief follows a convening this fall among 40 leading health equity, healthcare, civil rights, and public health organizations. The purpose of the convening was to advise policymakers on the barriers to vaccine receptivity within communities of color and tribal communities and how to overcome those barriers.

The TFAH policy brief provides background on historic maltreatment of communities of color and tribal nations by government and the health sector, as well as present day marginalization of those communities by the healthcare system. The brief sets forth recommended policy actions within six key areas:

• Ensure that scientific fidelity of the vaccine development process.
• Equip trusted community organizations and networks within communities of color and tribal nations to participate in vaccination planning, education, delivery, and administration. Ensure their meaningful engagement and participation by providing funding.
• Provide communities the information they need to understand the vaccine, make informed decisions, and deliver messages through trusted messengers and pathways.
• Ensure that it is as easy as possible for people to be vaccinated. Vaccines must be delivered in community settings that are trusted, safe, and accessible.
• Ensure complete coverage of the costs associated with the vaccine incurred by individuals, providers of the vaccine, and state/local/tribal/territorial governments responsible for administering the vaccine and communicating with their communities about it.
• Congress must provide additional funding and require disaggregated data collection and reporting by age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, primary language, disability status, and other demographic factors on vaccine trust and acceptance, access, vaccination rates, adverse experiences, and ongoing health outcomes.

The full TFAH policy brief is available here.