Health Coaching Across the Stages of Vaccine Readiness and Action: A Practical Guide for Public Health Nurses

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 112; no. S3; pp. S245 - S249
• Main Authors: Harris, Orlando O, Taylor, Kelly D, Maher, Andrew, Willard-Grace, Rachel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.06.2022
• Subjects: African Americans; American Indians; Chronic illnesses; Coaching; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease control; Emergency procedures; Ethnic groups; Ethnicity; False information; Fatalities; Federal government; Food; Health Personnel; Health planning; Humans; Immunization; Indigenous peoples; Information sources; Irritable bowel syndrome; Mentoring; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority groups; Morbidity; Mortality rates; Nurses; Nurses, Public Health; Older people; Pandemics; Public administration; Public health; Respiratory diseases; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Skepticism; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Syphilis; Vaccines; Viral diseases; Viruses; United States > US; California
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2022.306774

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, is part of a family of coronaviruses. It was identified to be the cause of a highly contagious severe respiratory syndrome that resulted in a global pandemic starting in early 2020.1 In the United States, relatively high COVID-19 morbidity and mortality have been documented among older adults, people with chronic health conditions, people with low socioeconomic status, the underinsured, and those from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.2,3 For example, African Americans represent 13.4% of the US population but accounted for more than 24% of the COVID-19-related deaths.4,5 Adjusted for age, the rate of death from COVID-19 is twice as high for Latinx, African American, and Indigenous people as it is for their White counterparts.6,7 COVID-19's disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities and vulnerable populations has amplified the need to increase vaccination outreach among these groups as a matter of equity.In May 2020, just a few months after the initial identification ofthe SARSCoV-2 virus, the US federal government established a program (Operation Warp Speed) to accelerate the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19. Several months after the establishment of Operation Warp Speed, PfizerBioNTech,Johnson &Johnson, and Moderna all received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for their vaccines against COVID-19. The development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19 was a major accomplishment of science and was seen as the primary public health strategy to reduce infections and deaths and thereby to end the pandemic. Yet, lack of vaccine uptake puts in peril the goal of controlling the spread ofthe virus, particularly among communities that are at greatest risk of contracting and dying ofthe illness.