COVID-19 Testing and Vaccine Hesitancy in Latinx Farm-Working Communities in The Eastern Coachella Valley

Abstract

Background A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (known as COVID-19), spread rapidly around the world, affecting all and creating an ongoing global pandemic. In the United States, Latinx, African American, and Indigenous populations across the country have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 cases and death rates. An examination of the perceptions and beliefs about the spread of the virus, COVID-19 testing, and vaccination amongst racial/ethnic minority groups is needed in order to alleviate the widespread disparity in new cases and deaths. Methods From November to December 2020 the research team conducted focus groups with members of Latinx farm-working communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley, located in the inland southern California desert region. A total of seven focus groups, six in Spanish and one in Purépecha, with a total of 55 participants were conducted. Topics covered include knowledge of the coronavirus, COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Results Using theme identification techniques, the findings identify structural factors that underly perceptions held by immigrant, migrant, and indigenous Latinx community members about COVID-19, which, in turn, shape attitudes and behaviors related to COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Common themes that emerged across focus groups include misinformation, lack of trust in institutions, and insecurity around employment and residency. Conclusions This racial/ethnic minority population is structurally vulnerable to historical and present-day inequalities that put them at increased risk of COVID-19 exposure, morbidity, and mortality. Findings from the focus groups indicate a significant need for interventions that decrease structural vulnerabilities by addressing issues of (dis)trust in government and public health among this population.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among undocumented migrants during the early phase of the vaccination campaign: a multicentric cross-sectional study

“…This is reassuring given the legitimate concern that access to vaccination would be limited for this population. Early in the vaccination roll-out, qualitative research among primarily female migrant farmworkers in the USA and migrants with precarious immigration status in the UK showed that misinformation and lack of awareness about entitlements, including access to COVID-19 vaccines, could present substantial barriers to immunisation programmes 45 46. In our study, women were more likely to endorse access than men.…”

Effectiveness of a COVID-19 Testing Outreach Intervention for Latinx Communities

“… 14 , 15 For immigrant, migrant, and Indigenous Latinx individuals, lack of trust in institutions and misinformation also reduce the likelihood of testing. 16 Reducing testing barriers and overcoming health disparities for Latinx communities require culturally responsive interventions, including not requiring health insurance, physician orders, identification, or fees and offering walk-up service. 15 , 17 Although several programs to reduce barriers to SARS-CoV-2 testing for Latinx communities exist, 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 to our knowledge, this is the first randomized trial to evaluate strategies designed to accelerate SARS-CoV-2 testing among Latinx populations.…”

Combined Infection Control Interventions Protect the Essential Workforce from Occupationally-Acquired SARS-CoV-2 during Produce Production, Harvesting and Processing Activities

“…Another limitation is that we assumed discordant vaccination status (e.g., only the susceptible worker had received a vaccination) among the infected and susceptible produce workers modeled. While vaccine hesitancy has been well documented among the food worker population 94,95 , these findings suggest that promoting a single-dose or two-dose vaccine can reduce daily infection risk by roughly 73.0% or 93.0%, respectively. Future work is needed to understand the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination coverage levels within this essential worker community, the findings of which could then be incorporated into the present model to increase the generalizability of our results.…”