UC Berkeley Public Health Researchers Awarded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant to Evaluate Equitable Vaccination Access With USAging
October 2024
Systems for Action, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, awarded the UC Berkeley Center for Health Management and Policy Research and USAging a three-year grant to conduct important research on addressing inequities in vaccination access.
UC Berkeley School of Public Health professors Dr. Amanda Brewster and Dr. Jenny Guadamuz are leading this project alongside USAging, the national association representing and supporting the nation’s network of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and advocating for Title VI Native American Aging Programs and the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC). The ADVC, a USAging program funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living, supports community-based organizations to facilitate seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations by aligning social services, public health and health care. The ADVC involves a range of national and local partners, including AAAs, Centers for Independent Living, local health departments, pharmacies and other community-based organizations across the country.
This study assesses effective strategies to eliminate disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccination by race and ethnicity by building on an existing nationwide initiative of the ADVC. Findings will generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of cross-sector partnerships in supporting local communities to expand vaccination reach to populations who experience barriers to access. Vaccination rates in groups at higher risk of complications from illness remain a pressing public health concern. Despite the widespread establishment of COVID-19 vaccination, vaccination rates for older adults and people with disabilities remain low. Disparities in vaccination rates are most prevalent for members in minoritized racial and ethnic populations. There is an important need to generate evidence on how to promote equitable increases in vaccine access, and this multi-year grant provides researchers the opportunity to address these critical gaps and develop targeted strategies to promote equitable vaccine access.
Systems for Action is a national research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that aims to discover and apply new evidence about ways of aligning delivery and financing systems across the medical, public health, and social services sectors that advance health equity. For more information, visit systemsforaction.org. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to improving health and health equity in the United States. In partnership with others, we are committed to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and paving the way together to a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. To achieve that vision, we are deepening our focus on dismantling one of the biggest barriers to health in America, structural racism. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.