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Short abstract:

We examine the role of leaders in different communities across the UK through the form of ‘community vaccine champions’, who have been acting as advocates, promoting community engagement among ethnic minority groups and vaccination during the pandemic.

Long abstract:

Assoc. Prof Samantha Vanderslott, Kate Joynes-Burgess, Dr Seilesh Kadambari and Prof. Tushna Vandrevala

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how ethnic minority groups are disproportionally affected by health crises and also the need for community engagement to provide equitable public health information and services. Community engagement has been presented by policymakers, practitioners, and academics as a way to improve access and uptake of health services, including vaccination. We examine the role of ‘community vaccine champions’, who have been acting as advocates, promoting community engagement among ethnic minority groups and vaccination during the pandemic. Our research explored how champions experienced and confronted the challenges brought on by the pandemic. From April 2021 until May 2022, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews lasting 45-60 minutes via video call. The interviews were inductively coded and analysed following a discourse approach to health communication. Our findings highlighted the striking role and influence of media and social media misinformation on vaccine decision-making, especially on ethnic minority groups. This rise of false and misleading information during the pandemic has been labelled an ‘infodemic’ by international health institutions and was made evident in community settings through our interviews. However, our informants cautioned about making simplistic assumptions about how misinformation negatively affects vaccine uptake amongst their communities. We conclude by setting out the need for ongoing community support for health issues and how data collection, particularly concerning ethnic minority groups classifications matter in a pandemic setting.