July 8th, 2022 – Our partners at UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine (CBAM) and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) in collaboration with the California Community Foundation (CCF) are excited to share a newly published report entitled, “Equity and Access: A Roadmap to Improving Vaccination Equity in South Los Angeles,” that advises and provides insights on how to reach communities of color and those hardly reached to educate, build trust, and disseminate vaccines in South Los Angeles given historical experiences with medical mistrust.

This community-based study identified inequities and how these inequities interfere with access to COVID-19 vaccines for Black and Latina/o/x communities in South Los Angeles. The project focused on three goals, which are to:

  • Facilitate community, public, private, and governmental partnerships to reduce COVID-19 vaccine inequity.
  • Educate communities of color in South LA about the COVID-19 vaccines through virtual town halls.
  • Navigate communities of color in South LA on how to access available COVID-19 vaccines.

The study systematically gathered perspectives and experiences around COVID-19 vaccination access and equity from three key groups in South Los Angeles: community members (i.e., essential workers), community leaders (i.e., clergy, faith-based leaders, and leaders of community-based organizations), and community providers (i.e., clinicians and clinical providers) for our focus groups and community education summits.

The findings in this report are intended to guide efforts to enhance engagement with key stakeholders, and to help build capacity of community and public agencies to be better positioned to provide a timely response to future public health emergencies.

Views, opinions, and comments expressed by the participants are those of the particular individual speaking and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of other participants, the research team, or the funder.

Please find a copy of the report and additional resources, available for download below:.