Leveraging Mobile Technology and Trusted Community Partners to Address Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccinations: Evaluation of Multichannel Digital Communication (Preprint)
Authors: Smith Monique Antoinette , McCurdy Matthew Donaven , Franks Nicole M , Yelpaala Sara , Dawson Jared Dakota , Agrawal Uma 
Published: November 2021

BACKGROUND

Innovative and strategic interventions are needed to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among communities which have been the most heavily impacted by the pandemic. Digital interventions are a critical component of strategies to promote healthy behaviors among target populations. Furthermore, given that the communities most vulnerable to COVID-19 experience mistrust toward health care systems, health promotion programs must consider the trustworthiness of the messenger in reaching target populations. This campaign utilized digital messaging strategies and trusted community partners to inform vulnerable populations about COVID-19 prevention, vaccinations, and other social services.

OBJECTIVE

This paper assesses the reach and impact of the COVID-19 messaging campaign which aimed to provide vital health information about COVID-19 prevention and vaccination to Black and Latino members of the Metro-Atlanta community by using multichannel communications through trusted community partners.

METHODS

Emory’s Collaborative Community Outreach and Health Disparities Group (ECCOHD) established a “connected community of care” model to disseminate health messages, resources, and linkages through trusted networks. Utilizing multichannel communications through SMS, social media, and flyers, the messaging campaign began to reach our target population in July 2020 and continued to do so until July 2021.

RESULTS

From the beginning of the campaign in July 2020 to its end in July 2021, the Metro-Atlanta COVID-19 messaging campaign sent out 2.4 million messages to 142 000 unique individuals. These messages received nearly 97, 000 click throughs and reached females 18-39y more than any other demographic. “High-risk” zip codes in DeKalb County were the highest reach zip codes. Regarding social media outreach, the campaign’s posts received more than 1.3 million impressions through ESSENCE Media’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, which have a reach of nearly 100, 000 followers. Furthermore, in the five zip codes that the messaging campaign reached the most, an average decrease in vaccine hesitancy of 9.92% was recorded from the beginning to the end of the campaign.

CONCLUSIONS

Leveraging a network of messaging partners who have long-standing relationships with underserved communities was key in establishing trust with these community members and motivating them to action. Additionally, utilizing data from the COVID Community Needs Index (CCNI) as well as the COVID Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) proved to be a vital tool for identifying zip codes with greater need and informing our campaign strategy. Additionally, mobile technology allowed for our customized messaging to reach hundreds of thousands of individuals and make millions of impressions on social media among communities with high vaccine hesitancy, such as Back and Latinx Americans.