Karina Marquez, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, is a strong believer in prevention. So she was delighted when U.S. and European health authorities approved the first vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus last year. The respiratory syncytial virus vaccine has the potential to reduce thousands of hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus in the United States each year. But vaccines are only effective when they get into the hands of those who need them most. “It’s really important that people have equal access,” Marquez says. “Inequalities in access result in inequalities in hospitalization and death.”
Three vaccines are currently available in the U.S., GSK’s Alexvy and Moderna’s mRESVIA, approved for older adults, and Pfizer’s Abrisvo, approved for older adults and pregnant women, but there are already disparities in doses. . Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Hispanic and black older adults are lagging behind their white counterparts. The CDC recommends RSV vaccination for everyone age 75 and older, but so far this year, only 19% of Hispanics in this age group have been vaccinated, and older whites 35% of older Americans, 31% of older Asians and 24% of older Black adults have been vaccinated.
This concerns Marquez, who has seen how disparate access and confidence in coronavirus vaccines has worsened the health outcomes of Latino and Black Americans during the pandemic. Research on racial disparities in respiratory syncytial virus infection is limited, but one study suggests that Rvirus affects Latinos, Blacks, and Native Americans at an earlier age than white Americans. . “The time to act is now,” she says. “Especially given the mistrust and hesitancy that has arisen following COVID-19 vaccinations.”
In October, Marquez will begin a five-year study at the National Institutes of Health to study how best to encourage one particular community to get vaccinated: San Francisco’s Latino population. Preliminary data she collected from 300 survey participants last year found that while many people were interested in getting the RSV vaccine, there was also a “significant clamor for more information.”
It is essential to identify and address specific concerns about the RSV vaccine. “This is a new vaccine for older adults, so we need to understand the most effective approaches to increase uptake,” said Zuckerberg, head of the Division of HIV and Infectious Diseases at San Francisco General Hospital, which is supporting the study. says Diane Habria, “Vaccine uptake is most effective when it is tailored and delivered based on cultural norms and beliefs.”
Marquez’s research will expand on surveys that ask participants about specific demographic data as well as concerns about vaccine safety. “Latino communities are very diverse, and we need more disaggregated data to tailor interventions,” Marquez says. Characteristics such as language, length of stay in the U.S., whether you have insurance, and how you obtain health information can determine how you learn about vaccines. “It’s going to be important to think about social networks, especially the social networks of older people.”
Marquez hypothesizes that older Latinos may receive health information from family, friends, and community organizations more than from social media campaigns, which could be a useful tool for targeting younger communities. It’s standing up. The study seeks to see whether grandchildren can encourage their grandparents to vaccinate, for example, based on past evidence that knowing someone personally who has been vaccinated is an effective motivator.
