>> Welcome, all.
And thank you for joining us for today's webinar, Protecting Our Children and Youth
from COVID-19: Information for Parents, Caregivers and Community Partners.
I am Roslyn Holliday Moore, Deputy Director for Programs with the Office of Minority Health
at the US Department of Health and Human Services, and your webinar moderator.
Before we begin, please be advised that the findings, opinions and conclusions
from this webinar are those of the speakers and presenters
and do not necessarily represent the official position of the US Department of Health
and Human Services also referred to as HHS,
or the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.
CDC does not endorse any one organization, service or product,
and no such endorsements should be implied.
Now for a few points about today's webinar.
Reasonable accommodation is provided through closed captioning in English and Spanish.
If you need these services, please click the link in the chat box.
We will also post the link in the chat throughout the webinar.
Spanish and Khmer interpretation will be accessed
by clicking the interpretation button located at the bottom right of your screen.
Make sure to select listen in Spanish or listen in Khmer,
which connects you with an interpreter.
Our panelists will now repeat these translation instructions
in Spanish and Khmer for our guests.
Lisa?
Zoom features available during the webinar include the Q&A, which stands for questions
and answers, box located at the bottom of your Zoom screen.
You can type in submit your questions throughout the webinar in the Q&A box.
If you have a specific question for any presenter,
please include that speaker's first name before your questions.
Please note that we will not be able to answer all questions today.
We will however post answers to questions not answered during the webinar
on the webinar web page.
Please check this page regularly over the coming week.
A link to the webinar webpage is now in the chat box.
Zoom poll questions will also be launched throughout today's webinar.
Four questions will be asked to help us learn more about you.
Participation is voluntary, and we welcome your feedback.
Today's webinar is being recorded and the recording will be posted
on the webinar webpage in the coming weeks.
Please check back regularly.
Today's agenda includes opening remarks, two panels -- panel one will be a superhero learn
and act on COVID-19 vaccination for children and youth.
Panel two, community superheroes working to protect children and youth from COVID-19.
Then closing remarks.
We're now moving to opening remarks from Rear Admiral Felicia Collins,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and the Director of the HHS Office
of Minority Health where she leads the office in its mission of improving the health
of racial and ethnic minority populations.
Although Rear Admiral Collins could not join us in person today,
she recorded this video to share with you.
>> Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today's event.
It is my pleasure to join colleagues from across the Department of Health and Human Services,
including our cohosts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and esteemed community partners and pediatric experts.
I am Dr. Felicia Collins and I have the honor of serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Minority Health within the Department of Health and Human Services,
and the Director of the Department's Office of Minority Health.
The Office of Minority Health is focused on helping to reduce differences
in health outcomes, or health disparities, for racial and ethnic minority
and American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
On a more personal level, I describe myself as a pediatrician by training
and a public health practitioner at heart.
I have focused my career on addressing health disparities experienced by racial
and ethnic minorities, children, and other underserved and vulnerable populations.
Thus, I really appreciate this opportunity to help spread the message of the importance
of COVID-19 vaccination for all children, including our youngest.
Today's webinar is part of the efforts that stem from the Biden-Harris executive order 13995,
in which federal agencies are working together to address the uneven and severe impact
of COVID-19 in the nation's underserved populations.
Today, you'll hear accurate information about how to protect all children from COVID-19.
I am so pleased that everyone ages six months and older can now get vaccinated
against COVID-19, and everyone ages five years and older can get a booster if eligible.
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is a key step in protecting our children and youth
from getting very sick or dying from COVID-19.
During today's webinar, you will hear from speakers that include pediatric
and vaccine experts and community partners leading vaccine efforts for children and youth.
They will share with you the CDC's recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination
for everyone ages six months and older, including where to find resources
and credible information on vaccine safety.
They will also share information on the risks, benefits and myths associated
with COVID-19 vaccinations for children and youth.
They will have recommendations on what to ask a health provider
about COVID-19 vaccination if your child has a disability.
And you will hear how community partners are working to protect youth and children
with disabilities, and Black, Latino, American Indian/Alaskan native, Asian American
and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children and youth who live
in communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
I want to encourage each of you to share the information shared today in your communities.
Getting the free COVID-19 vaccination will help our children and everyone in our circle.
Thanks again to each of you for joining us, and enjoy the webinar.
>> Thank you, Rear Admiral Collins.
Now for our first poll of today.
Please use your computer, cell phone or other device to tell us what region
in the US best describes where you live.
Those are rapid responses coming in.
We have 30 seconds for this time.
So please take a moment, let us know.
It's almost like a race, seeing which region has the most representation.
But I can tell you it's very impressive.
Well, we're about at time.
And so let's see.
What have we learned about you?
We have 25% of the audience from the Midwest, 26% of the audience from the Northeast,
29% of the audience from the southeast, 8% from the southwest and 12% from the west.
Thank you so much for your time and sharing that information.
And now we move to the next slide as we begin discussion for our first panel.
It will be moderated by Captain Anitra Johnson, an expert at the national level
for policy planning at the Administration for Children and Families.
>> Thank you, Miss Moore.
Our first panel, Be A Superhero: Learn and Act on COVID-19 Vaccinations for Children and Youth,
will cover the impact of COVID-19 on children and youth,
including vaccination recommendations, how you can access COVID-19 vaccines in your community,
and how you use Vsafe.cdc.gov, a smartphone-based tool that checks in on you
and your child after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.
The second portion of the panel will explore COVID-19 risk implications
by race, ethnicity and disability.
Parents and caregivers will also learn strategies for vaccinating children and youth
with disabilities and resources for all children,
youth and young adults impacted by COVID-19.
Next slide.
Our first presentation comes from Commander Kevin Chatham-Stephens.
Dr. Chatham-Stephens is a medical epidemiologist and pediatric preparedness expert at CDC
and currently serves on CDC's COVID-19 response
as the pediatric vaccine planning and implementation lead.
Dr. Chatham-Stephens, I will hand it over to you.
>> Great. Good afternoon, and thanks so much for the opportunity to chat with you all today.
As mentioned, I'm a pediatrician at CDC, but I'm also a father of two kiddos,
both of whom have received their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.
Next slide, please.
So I'll start off by describing the tragic toll that COVID has had on children.
It's really important to understand this toll to help reinforce the importance
of protecting children through these vaccines.
Some of the direct impacts of COVID on children include that children can get COVID-19,
spread it to others and become seriously ill.
And unfortunately, there's no way to tell in advance
if a child will get a mild case or a severe case.
Since the pandemic began, more than 13 million children have been diagnosed with COVID,
2.5 million of them under five years of age.
In addition, there have been over 65,000 hospitalizations,
and tragically over 800 deaths in children.
And future surges will continue to impact children with unvaccinated children remaining
at higher risk of severe outcomes.
And some of the indirect impacts of COVID on children include missed opportunities
for sports, playdates or other activities that can further contribute to worsening of mental
or emotional health, decreased school or daycare attendance, which can lead to widening
of these existing educational gaps, and decreases in routine childhood vaccinations.
Next slide, please.
Fortunately, we now have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine available
for all children ages six months of age and older.
These vaccines provide a critical opportunity to prevent severe illness,
especially among those disproportionately impacted by COVID,
including those from certain racial and ethnic minority groups and children
with underlying medical conditions, disabilities or special healthcare needs.
Children get an age-appropriate smaller dose with each of these vaccines compared
to doses given to older children.
And the dose is based on the age of the child on the day of vaccination.
For our younger children, the Moderna vaccine is for children six months
to five years old, and is a two-dose series.
And the Pfizer vaccine is for children six months
to four years old and is a three-dose series.
We have a variety of vaccine resources on the CDC webpage, including information for children
who have a weakened immune system.
Next slide, please.
Our goal was to ensure that all children have access to the vaccines.
Similar to the vaccine program for children five to 11 years old, we're working to ensure vaccine
for children under five years old is widely available
in different locations throughout communities, really trying to meet children and families
where they are as much as possible.
However, there will be some key differences between this vaccine program
and the vaccine program for children five to 11 years old.
For example, about 1/3 of 5- to 11-year-olds were vaccinated in pharmacies.
We anticipate most children under five years old will be vaccinated in their primary care clinic.
So pediatricians, family practice doctors and nurses and local health departments,
especially in rural areas, Indian Health Service and tribal health clinics,
and federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics will continue
to serve critical roles in contributing to vaccine equity.
We do still anticipate that pharmacies will play a critical role, for example,
in having vaccine available at nights, on weekends
and on holidays when clinics may be closed.
We encourage parents and caregivers to reach out to their child's pediatrician
or family practice doctor, their local health department and local pharmacy to ask
if they have the COVID-19 vaccines.
Parents can also check vaccines.gov to search for nearby providers offering the vaccine.
In addition to the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others who will be vaccinating children,
we anticipate that settings such as childcare programs like Head Start
and other support programs like WIC will be critical partners
in helping disseminate messaging on the vaccine,
given their roles as trusted messengers to families.
They can also help link children to vaccine providers,
which many already do for routine childhood vaccines.
Next slide, please.
One reason we anticipate most children will be vaccinated
by their regular healthcare providers is that this is
where children typically receive other vaccines.
As an example, for the 2020 to 2021 flu season, approximately 80% of children six months
through four years old received their flu vaccination in their doctor's office.
This is compared to very low percentages of children this age
who were vaccinated at a pharmacy.
And we know that pediatricians, family practice doctors
and nurses are often the most trusted sources of information for families,
and can help answer any questions family have regarding the vaccines.
And giving COVID-19 vaccines in doctor's offices is optimal, since it also enables children
to receive routine childhood vaccines, screenings for a variety of issues,
including developmental and vision screening, and families and children to get counseling
on a variety of topics such as nutrition and injury prevention
that help children thrive in a safe environment.
Next slide, please.
Here we wanted to show some of the resources available for parents and caregivers.
We have updated various web pages, including an FAQ page, and the Six Things to Know
about COVID-19 Vaccination for Children page.
These pages discuss some common questions from parents, including,
is COVID-19 vaccination for children safe?
We also posted a page aimed at parents on vaccinating children with disabilities.
In addition, we have fact sheets available in a variety of languages.
These and other resources are available at the link at the bottom of the slide.
Next slide, please.
And finally, parents and caregivers can enroll children in the Vsafe
after vaccination health checker, which provides personalized
and confidential health check-ins after COVID-19 vaccination.
Vsafe is accessible to all COVID-19 vaccine recipients, uses text messages
and is available in multiple languages.
Parents can register at vsafe.cdc.gov.
Next slide, please.
So once again COVID-19 can cause severe disease and death among children
and COVID-19 vaccination is a critical opportunity to prevent severe illness and death.
Thank you for the opportunity to present.
>> Thank you, Dr. Chatham-Stephens.
The resources shared by Dr. Chatham-Stephens have been placed
in the chat box for your convenience.
Next, we'll move on to our next presenter, Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp,
a developmental pediatrician and senior medical officer at CDC,
where she currently leads the COVID disability team.
Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp will address COVID-19 in children with disabilities.
Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp.
>> Hello, everyone.
I like to thank the organizers for inviting me to speak about Protecting our Children and Youth
from COVID-19: Impact and Implications for Children
and Youth with Developmental Disabilities.
I'm speaking to you from the perspective of a developmental pediatrician,
but also as a mother, grandmother, auntie, cousin, girlfriend, and a member of a community
that has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Next slide.
This is not news.
This table shows the risk of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations
and deaths by race and ethnicity.
The comparison is other races and ethnicities to whites.
As you see, the risk in the Asian population is low, lower than for whites.
But the risk for COVID-19 in American Indian, or Alaska Native, Black or African American
and Hispanic or Latino individuals is high in all these groups,
with a risk of hospitalizations and deaths being two to three times higher.
Next slide.
What about our children?
These graphs are for cases and we know that the number of cases reported is an undercount.
For children birth to four years of age, the percentage of cases for Hispanic,
American Indian, Alaska Native, Black and multiple race children is higher
than their various percentages in the US population.
The same is true for the number of COVID-19 cases in children five to 11 years old,
with perhaps the exception of Black children, but the lines are very close.
Next slide.
Here we're looking at the percentage of children
with developmental disabilities by race and ethnicity.
4.3% of children were white, and 4.3% of children were Hispanic.
However, 5.1% were Black children, and 5.9% were American Indian, Alaska Native.
Therefore, we see that the prevalence was higher for Black
and American Indian, Alaska Native children.
Next slide.
You may wonder why children with disabilities may be more likely to get COVID-19.
There are several reasons.
First of all, because of the need to be in close contact with others who may have COVID-19.
For example, a family member or caregiver may be sick.
Other reasons include that it may be hard for a child to understand information about how
to stay safe from COVID-19, such as wearing a mask and socially distancing.
And it may also be hard for the child to explain when he or she feels sick.
Next slide.
As we heard, COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective.
For children with disabilities, getting vaccinated can be challenging.
However, we have some tips to provide vaccination in ways that are easier
for children with developmental disabilities.
Some options include being vaccinated in their parent or caregiver's vehicle or quiet areas.
Longer appointments for children who may need more time,
and sensory modifications during vaccination appointments.
Trusted care providers can work with parents to learn
and address specific concerns with vaccination.
Next slide.
We also know that COVID-19 has impacted all of us in many ways.
This slide shows ways that parents can help their children cope with being
in the COVID-19 environment we now live in.
You can strengthen relationships by spending outside time together and getting active.
Help with routines by creating a chart or calendar,
and include family nights in your routine.
Help manage stress and anxiety by practicing deep breathing
and other techniques to help with relaxation.
A vision or dream board can be helpful to think about goals for the future.
Next slide.
In addition to helping parents and caregivers understand these challenges,
the COVID-19 parental resources kit also includes recommendations and resources
to help parents, children, adolescents and young adults during the pandemic.
Next slide.
Additional CDC resources are included on this slide.
Next slide.
I encourage all of you to go on the CDC website
and visit the many different resources we have on children and COVID-19.
I think parents will find a lot of helpful information on our website.
Next slide.
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you today and for your attention.
>> Thank you, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp.
To learn more about our panel speakers or to access the resources shared
in today's presentations, visit www.CDC.gov/ protect-children under the Resources section.
Now let us ask our presenters a few questions that we have received.
As a reminder, submit your questions using the Q&A box located at the bottom of your screen.
We will do our best to respond to as many questions as time allows.
We will also post answers to questions not answered during today's webinar
on the webinar webpage.
Please check this box.
Please check this page regularly over the coming weeks.
A link to the webinar webpage is now in the chat box.
First question is for you, Dr. Chatham-Stephens.
Why is it important for children to get a COVID-19 vaccine
>> So just like adults, children and teens can get very sick from COVID, have both short-
and long-term health problems, and can also spread COVID to others.
And as I mentioned before, unfortunately, there's no way to tell
in advance how COVID will affect certain children.
And although children with underlying medical conditions are more likely
to become severely ill from COVID, even healthy children
without underlying medical conditions can have severe illness.
And after getting COVID, children can experience a wide range of ongoing health problems,
also known as long COVID, that can include both physical and mental health complications
that can affect their quality of life.
So once again, vaccinating children six months of age and older provides the best defense
against serious outcomes related to COVID-19.
>> Thank you for that response, sir.
Now, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp, let's follow up with why have different races
and ethnicities been disproportionately affected by COVID-19?
>> Thank you for that question.
The answer to the question involves understanding the social determinants of health.
And what do we mean by the social determinants of health?
Those are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play,
worship, and age, that affect a wide range of health, functioning
and quality of life outcomes and risk.
Racial disparities in health existed before the pandemic.
The pandemic just exposed these disparities.
Racial and ethnic minorities have more underlying health conditions,
less access to quality healthcare, live in more crowded conditions, are more on the front lines
as essential workers, have less access to nutritious foods, and in general,
have more opportunities for exposure to COVID-19 and less opportunities
for prevention, mitigation and treatment.
>> Thank you for that response.
Dr. Chatham-Stevens, I have one for you.
Are these vaccines safe for children?
>> Yes, the COVID-19 vaccines are safe.
These vaccines are being monitored under the most comprehensive
and intense Vaccine Safety Monitoring Program in US history.
And hundreds of millions of children, teens and adults have already received a COVID-19 vaccine.
In addition, before recommending the vaccines to children, scientists conducted clinical trials
with thousands of children to make sure that the vaccines are safe and effective.
In terms of side effects, some of the reported side effects tend to be mild, temporary,
and similar to other side effects experienced after routine vaccination.
And some children have no side effects at all.
Some of the serious health events after COVID-19 vaccination in children are fortunately rare,
and when they are reported occur most frequently within a few days after vaccination.
So just to keep in mind, children cannot get COVID-19 from getting vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccines don't alter DNA in any way.
And there's no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause any problems with fertility
or becoming pregnant in the future.
So the known risks of getting COVID and the possible severe complications,
such as long-term health problems, hospitalization
and even death outweigh the potential risks of having a rare serious reaction to vaccination.
>> Thank you so much.
Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp, are people from racial
and ethnic minority groups dying from COVID-19 at younger ages.
>> Yes, studies have shown, unfortunately, people from racial
and ethnic minority groups are dying from COVID-19 at younger ages.
In addition to the social determinants of health, which I mentioned previously,
they're often younger when they develop chronic medical conditions, such as asthma, obesity,
sickle cell disease and diabetes.
And they're also more likely to have more than one medical condition.
>> Thank you for that.
I think I have time for one more question.
Dr. Chatham-Stephens, I'll have one for you.
Can children get the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as they get other vaccines?
>> Yes, children can get COVID-19 vaccine
and other vaccines including a flu vaccine at the same time.
We know that some children have fallen behind
on their routine childhood vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we're really trying
to encourage pediatricians and families to work together
to make sure children get their COVID-19 vaccines and get caught
up on their routine vaccines, especially ahead of the back to school season.
>> Thank you.
Perfect timing with kids going back to school.
Thank you, Dr. Chatham-Stephens and Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp
for sharing such great information.
Miss Moore, back to you.
>> Thank you, Captain Johnson.
And that was great information.
We're also at a point, so please turn on your computer, cell phone or other device.
Be ready for our poll question number two.
In relation to this webinar, what role best describes you?
We have 30 seconds for collecting all our answers.
Make sure you scroll down using the bar at the right to capture any extra areas
that you might want to include under other.
We have caregivers, parents, siblings, spouse, partner, teen youth, young adult, and other.
And let's look.
We have 19% of the audience representing caregivers, 39% parents,
9% identifying as siblings, 16% spouses or partner.
Don't have any teen or youth, so we'll make sure to reach out differently next time.
And 11% identify as young adult, and 46% of you identifying as other.
So with that, we're going to move to the next slide.
And our next panel will be moderated by Miss Shayla Anderson,
who is a senior police Public Health Advisor in the Office of Behavioral Health Equity
at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
>> Thank you, Miss Moore.
In this next panel, you will learn information, available resources and strategies from leaders
of community-based organizations who are working daily to protect children and youth living
in communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
To learn more about our speakers today, please visit www.CDC.govt/ protect-children.
Now let's meet our speakers for today's community panel.
First up we have Julissa Soto who is the founder and executive director of Casa Inmigrante
and a vaccine champion in the state of Colorado.
>> Hello, everyone.
>> Next we'll have Captain Holly van Lew, who is currently deputy lead
of the Indian Health Services COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.
Followed by Dr. Amy Hatcher, who serves as Medical Director
for the Valley Native Primary Care Center
and several rural community health centers operated by South Central foundation.
Next, we have Miss Beverly Watts-Davis, who is Chief Officer for the Resource Development
and Program Support and Senior Vice President for Texas West Care Foundation
at the Ella Austin Community Center, which operates in 18 states and three US territories
to improve behavioral health and empower community residents.
Next, we have Mr. Vattana Peong, Executive Director
of the Cambodian Family Community Center that provides preventative health and other services
to low-income children, immigrants and refugees in California.
So with that, let's begin our first presentation in the order of introduction.
Julissa Soto, I'll now turn it over to you.
>> Hello, everyone, and thanks for the invite.
Next slide, please.
My name is Julissa Soto and I am an independent health equity consultant
in the state of Colorado.
Colorado Access is a local nonprofit healthcare company that has been caring
for the health of Coloradans since 1995.
Our mission is to partner with communities and empower people through access
to quality, equitable and affordable care.
We are a leader in the transformation and transcreation of Colorado's healthcare system
by using our leadership and expertise in health plan operations, integrating healthcare delivery
and population health management.
Next slide, please.
Our culture is inclusive, and our staff and contractors are diverse,
with many people coming from a range of backgrounds.
Next slide, please.
In this picture, you see one of the kids that show up to our vaccine clinic.
At the same time, this mariachi little boy was helping us
to distribute COVID-19 tests and masks.
This little boy will tell our story.
Now this is the story and how we can protect our children from COVID-19.
Next slide.
It is important for the vaccine provider
to represent the children and youth they're serving.
When given the opportunity, you should consider choosing a provider that looks
like the children they are serving.
And studies show that when choosing a provider that looks like you,
people are more satisfied with their overall service.
When children arrive to the clinic,
make sure they you make them feel that they are superheroes.
Children consider superheroes the role models
and assess their behaviors and actions to be right.
So if vaccinators are superheroes, automatically the children will assume
that they are doing the right thing by getting the vaccine.
As you can see, our providers in here are superheroes.
We have Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman.
Cultural responsiveness is the ability to recognize and understand the role culture plays
in healthcare and adapt to care strategies --
and adapt care strategies to meet children and family needs.
So cultural responsiveness is extremely important.
For example, when you see a Latino family coming to the vaccine clinics,
the example of, you know, we need privacy.
The bubble doesn't exist in Latino communities.
You might see one child getting vaccinated,
but the whole family wanted to watch, see and support.
Meeting the community where they're comfortable receiving care,
building trust with community first, let's go to them.
Build trust, then invite the community to come to us.
A healthy community is a prepared community.
If our communities are not healthy, we're not there yet.
Eliminate fear and trust in providers.
The same way we don't trust systems and providers,
they might feel the same way about us.
I have noticed that some providers are uncomfortable vaccinating on weekends, nights,
or uncomfortable with the population they serve.
This is real.
Bias exists.
Make sure that providers understand that they will be in the hood, in the barrios
and not in Hollywood -- that providers need to be a person of the people and willing to be one
of them, not above them, with the ability and passion to serve and lead.
Next slide, please.
Data inform.
We understand the limitations of data.
Since the collected data is only a snapshot of the reality,
decision making shouldn't rely solely on the data.
Working with community leaders, cultural brokers is important.
A good leader has the integrity, the community trusts you.
The community needs to know that you say what you believe and act accordingly.
Eligible but not enrolled.
We're talking about medical, culturally relevant approaches, working with mixed status families
and new Americans is extremely important --
as important of having evenings and weekends, clinics.
We must have evening and weekend clinics.
The status quo needs to go.
Monday through Friday 10:00 to 2:00, 9:00 to 2:00 is not working for working families,
or working families can miss work.
That will develop trust, and we will approach them with that respect and cultural.
We will be sensitive to their needs.
Faith-based outreach also is extremely important.
In Colorado, more than 50% of Latinos are Catholics.
The faith community has the opportunity to provide a moral frame for seeking solutions
to important issues such as vaccine.
One of my colleagues will speak more on this approach, language justice.
When we refer to language justice, we mean the right everyone has to communicate
in the language and we will feel most comfortable.
Next slide.
Community Center efforts.
Okay, and here I'm telling the children, give me five.
As you can see, we're having fun.
The children -- you will approach the children, the children will approach you.
Let's all unite and transform community through vaccines.
Give me five, guys.
I did it.
>> Thank you, Julissa.
I'll now turn it over to Captain Holly van Lew.
>> Good afternoon, everyone.
Thanks so much for joining us today and for allowing us to be part
of this exciting opportunity to speak to you.
I am Captain Holly van Lew, I'm a pharmacist, I work within the Indian Health Service.
I'm an avid vaccine advocate.
I'm a vaccinator.
I'm a mother of two adolescent girls.
I'm a wife and a daughter of two elderly parents who live with me.
I'm so excited to tell you a little bit about IHS and some
of the approaches to COVID-19 vaccine.
Next slide, please.
Overall, the Indian Health Service, we are a department
within the Department of Health and Human Services.
And we are a comprehensive healthcare delivery system.
We are used to providing vaccine and the primary care, urgent care
and other situations very frequently.
This is our charge.
We have a service population of about 2.6 million people.
That would be anyone who may show up for services and be eligible
as part of a federally recognized tribe.
And we have federally operated sites, tribal health programs, and urban Indian organizations
that we fulfill COVID-19 vaccine for across 37 different states.
Our facility and locations, they vary from very remote and rural populations,
all the way to urban populations.
We even have one site at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, so we have a lot of diversity.
Next slide, please.
The IHS stood up a COVID vaccine task force when we were offered the opportunity to receive
and distribute a specialty supply of COVID-19 vaccine.
We have tribal and urban facilities, over 356 sites that have been able to receive vaccines
through the Indian Health Service.
We have delivered nearly 3.2 million and administered
over 2.2 million doses to individuals of all ages.
And we have been able to provide vaccines to our community members as well,
maybe those individuals who live and work in our communities and may not be eligible for care
for the Indian Health Service typically as a member of a federally recognized tribe.
We know vaccines are widely available across Indian country,
both COVID-19 vaccines and routine immunizations.
And we are offering vaccines to everyone six months and older,
and we're vaccinating individuals for their primary series,
their booster doses or additional doses.
Our tribes and especially our tribal leaders have been the strongest partners.
We have engaged our tribal leaders, used them as trusted messengers.
And we're very thankful for having the opportunity to amplify the messages
of vaccination throughout our communities.
This also is important that we've been able to partner
with some critical groups including the CDC, the National Guard, FEMA,
the Bureau of Indian Education, and other groups to ensure that we are reaching all levels
of patients who may be eligible for vaccination.
Next slide, please.
As already discussed earlier today, there are disproportionate effects for COVID-19 disease,
especially in the American Indian/Alaskan Native population.
As you can see here, cases, hospitalizations,
and death rates are higher among American Indian/Alaskan Native at nearly all ages,
and their rates of death are much higher even in lower aged individuals or younger individuals.
These findings have certainly highlighted the need for comprehensive
and culturally appropriate messaging accessible to American Indian/Alaskan Native people.
We've used those trusted messengers, including tribal healers, native language speakers,
our community health representatives, and our community aids so that we can meet people
where they are, not necessarily just at a medical facility.
Also the messages of cultural preservation, including protection of our elders,
and our focus on community has really resonated within the Indian Health Service.
Next slide, please.
There have been disproportionate effects evident in children aged zero to four
with the elevated hospitalization rates as well.
This has been the case -- you can see in the purple line highlighted here --
for a significant proportion of the months.
American Indian/Alaskan Native children have been disproportionately affected
by hospitalization.
Next slide, please.
So what are our implementation strategies?
How do we get vaccine to where it needs to be in the arm of our treasured patients?
Well, we use our primary care or healthcare delivery system to vaccinate children
in well child visits, or pediatric or family practice visits.
We also have a lot of specialist providers that provide behavioral health intervention.
We may have individuals in the urgent care or emergency room providing vaccines.
Now if someone were to twist their ankle, we certainly can still give a vaccine that day.
So we attempt to use every visit as an opportunity for vaccination.
We also partner our pandemic or seasonal vaccines
with our routine immunization efforts as well.
And right now is a great time with back to school.
A lot of families, kids coming in for sports physicals,
well child checks and Head Start evaluation.
We've expanded our clinics to include nurses and pharmacists,
and we even use our novel pharmacy technician vaccine
for administration in children over three.
And more importantly, we meet people where they are, which means going to the schools,
going out to the Bureau of Indian Education facilities,
coordinating with our public health nurses,
community centers, and attending cultural events.
Specifically, we expand a lot of our clinics on weekends
and after school hours to accommodate family needs.
Typically, if a family comes in and needs some support, we definitely have the opportunity
to vaccinate everyone in the family.
Next slide, please.
We just want to highlight there are multiple resources available
that are culturally appropriate for American Indian/Alaskan Native communities.
We have the IHS vaccine website that has a number of different customizable flyers.
We also have the We Can Do This national campaign.
Next slide, please.
Thank you so much for the opportunity today.
>> Thank you, Captain van Lew.
Next we have Dr. Amy Hatcher.
>> Hi there, Amy Hatcher here.
I'm a pediatrician as well as the mom to two incredible boys ages six to nine.
And I'm also medical director for the Valley Native Primary Care clinic
in West Silla, Alaska.
So it's still morning here for me.
Next slide, please.
So South Central foundation is an Alaska Native owned,
clinically vertically integrated healthcare system.
We are really customer focused and see ourselves more as a service industry.
We have operational principles that guide us in our decision making and our strategic planning.
And as you can see, they're all related to relationships.
Our vision speaks to our multidimensional wellness --
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness.
And our mission speaks toward involving the community
and really working with the Native community.
Next slide, please.
So this is a map that shows the area that we serve.
We serve 65,000 customer owners or patients,
and the geographical region is approximately 126,000 square miles,
which is roughly the size of Colorado.
You can see the stars on the map are also where we have clinics that we operate.
Next slide, please.
So this slide shows some of our community health centers.
We operate 13 in total.
And all but one of these on the slide here are accessible by small aircraft only.
So as mentioned earlier, we definitely have some very remote locations that we serve.
Next slide, please.
So the Nuka system of care is what we call our care delivery system.
And instead of focusing on just the needs of the individual patient or customer owner,
we put a lot of emphasis on the community and treating them in the context
of their family and their community.
We have incredible integrated care teams that you can see
on the slide here have various professionals, and they're all located
in the same family medicine space clinical space.
Next slide, please.
So when COVID hit, we were fortunate enough to have the Nuka system
of care as our sort of background.
So we were able to kind of quickly pivot to make some adjustments.
And we started with lots and lots of meetings with tribal leaders, city/state planning.
We got creative with things like a respiratory clinic, we got super creative with virtual care.
We were doing a lot of this before COVID, but really, really ramped it up when COVID hit.
Got super creative with parking lots.
So we were doing vaccines and COVID testing, flu shots out of trailers out of parking lots,
did lots of mailout medications, ports drop offs,
lots of things that you could see here on the slide.
Next slide.
We put a lot of emphasis on communication -- communication, not only with our staff,
but also with our customer owners and patient community.
We did four Anchorage Native News special editions.
Our president and CEO has been very intentional during this time to communicate with staff,
as well as the people that we serve.
She has been doing weekly emails with lots of data, transparent information.
Our executive leadership has been doing like Zoom chats with our staff,
and we are able to ask questions and get answers from her.
Next slide.
Here you can see some of our PR materials.
We have lots of it, but I just chose a few to share with you today.
So this is the Anchorage Native News, what everyone should know about COVID-19.
Here's a couple of our Facebook posts really geared toward pregnancy and childhood vaccine.
The bottom photo shows something that you may see if you walk into one of our lobbies.
It says, "Keep cultures thriving.
Get a COVID vaccine.
Keep heritage strong, vaccinate your children."
Next slide.
This is one of our more recent photos.
I really love this one.
It says, "Don't weave COVID-19 into our culture."
And this just recently came out for the approval for ages six months and up.
Next slide.
This is just a screenshot from our website southcentralfoundation.com.
Lots of good information if you want to learn more about us.
But also I just wanted to point out that we have links to various CDC information.
This self-checker is something for staff to be able to go and check and see if they need
to quarantine or what they need to do if they test positive.
So lots of great information there.
Next slide.
Lastly, I just wanted to end with a little bit of data.
So this is some of our vaccine information from some of our really rural sites that I mentioned.
And you can see there's a wide range of vaccination rates.
But some of these communities -- Kokhanok, for example, or St. Paul, you can see for the first
and second doses are close to 100% of the community are vaccinated,
which is absolutely incredible, considering how small these communities are
and how remote they are.
Next slide.
This here shows the -- so this is one of our supervisors
and managers receiving the first shipment of COVID vaccine
out in one of those rural communities.
And here's one of our community health aides getting vaccinated.
And it's just incredible to see how these communities have come together to really,
really advocate for vaccination for everybody.
Next slide.
I think with that I'm all done.
Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Dr. Hatcher.
We'll now hear from Miss Beverly Watts-Davis.
>> Well, good afternoon, everyone.
It is a pleasure to in fact, be here with you.
I just want to tell you, I'm with WestCare Foundation, and we were founded in 1973.
And we're a health and human service provider, we're in 19 states, 13 territories.
We serve approximately 60,000 people annually, and we employ approximately 1,600 people.
But I want to move to the next slide, which is really what we're here today for.
So we want to just talk about releasing community-based strategies.
And I want to just emphasize that these are our best practices
that we have seen being really effective across our states, but also in San Antonio, Texas,
where we have a number of different product programs going on with vaccinations.
But first of all, I want to just be able to say it is really important to be able to engage
and enlist what's called credible messengers.
And these are people who your community is actually going to listen to.
Oftentimes we assume that just because we exist, that we will open and they will come.
But in today's world, people are not necessarily going
to come unless they actually believe in you.
And I think that's incredibly important for us to remember that the credible messengers
in the communities are in fact the community members themselves.
And in fact, I want to just simply say that in terms of doing this, we employed a strategy --
and I'm just jumping out to bullet three.
We worked with AmeriCorps members, community health workers,
student interns, and neighborhood networkers.
These were very, very instrumental in actually getting out, putting boots on the ground
and actually walking in communities, going door to door talking with people.
This actually began to have people opening their doors going, well,
this is something really important in our community.
If you've got people doing this, if they're willing to walk the blocks
and let us know about what's going on.
This was very, very important to actually helping us to get people vaccinated
and then getting their children vaccinated.
Another strategy we utilized is we actually -- we worked for faith-based organizations,
but we didn't go to them and ask them, will you please do one more thing
that somebody is asking you to do?
We really kind of came in from a different way.
We were already building capacity in faith-based organizations to understand mental health.
And we were training on mental health first aid and helping
to build mental health ministries in the churches.
So because we had formed a relationship with them in terms of building their capacity
to address family issues more, they were much more willing to listen to us in terms
of actually beginning to focus in on vaccinations, especially when it came
to our most precious treasures, our children.
And so because we had built capacity with them, this was another strategy we added to them.
So the church has gotten involved with really stepping up to do vaccinations,
both for senior citizens and for children.
And that was really, really very important.
In addition, it's really important to realize that none of us are successful by ourselves.
We really believe in what's called problem solving coalitions.
And this is, this is where you're literally coming together and you forget
about who gets the credit and we focus in on the goal.
Right now we have a coalition, that's with the University of Texas Health Science Center,
and that is really about engaging people to actually get vaccinations,
particularly pediatric vaccinations and senior citizen vaccinations.
We have an alliance that if you look at the screen in the bottom right corner,
you will see that's one of our coalitions.
You will see -- you can't tell, except for with the police department, we're sitting here
with our police department, our fire department, our community health workers, health department,
our schools, sitting around the table, figuring out what is the best way to be able to make sure
that we're getting everybody vaccinated.
We're working with our Spurs, our National Basketball Association team,
in which we're going to be doing a backpack drive.
And at that backpack drive for all those children who are coming into the arena,
we're going to be also vaccinating them.
And so again, these are not normally the partners that most people would partner with.
You wouldn't think about them in terms of doing a health initiative.
But in fact, they are the ones who actually make a difference in terms of getting
to community members who would not necessarily come forward.
Something that other people have constantly talked
about through this presentation is creating vaccination sites
that are accessible and available.
And I really want to give my hats off to all my fellow panelists who continue to emphasize this.
We have to meet people where they are.
And I have been so pleased with our business.
This was part of involving people in our coalition, our business communities
who are willing to offer pizza sales and an extra McDonald's coffee
or a McDonald's McMuffin, or whatever, that comes with getting vaccinated.
That's when you really have your community all in and everybody doing a part
of what they can do to really help raise the message about the importance
of pediatric vaccinations and vaccinations period.
I want to be able to say messaging can't be just, we're going to do a media campaign
and we run it for two or three weeks and think that that's all we have to do.
Messaging has to be everywhere, all the time.
Let me repeat that.
Messaging has to be everywhere, all the time.
Because we want this to be -- getting your children vaccinated has
to be a part of the community culture.
It has to become a community norm.
It is how we operate, it's what we do.
In our community, we have an African proverb that many of you all are familiar with.
And it is it takes a village to raise a child.
That's absolutely true.
But it also takes a village to save a child and to save our children.
We all must come together and employ that village strategy so that we as the village
in our communities are making sure that our children are vaccinated.
It is for our future.
It is for their health.
It is to save them and that is our responsibility.
Thank you so very, very much.
>> Thank you, Miss Davis.
I'll now turn it over to Vattana Peong.
>> Good morning, everyone from Orange County, California.
My name is Vattana Peong, executive director of the Cambodian Family Community Center.
My pronouns are he, him, his.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be in this community space with you all.
Next slide, please.
I would like to start by sharing with you about my organization,
Cambodian Family Community Center, which is a community-based nonprofit organization founded
in 1980 by a group of Cambodian refugees.
As you can see photos on your left, those were our refugee children that we served in the '80s.
Orange County is the sixth most populous county in the United States,
with over 3.2 million residents and of which over 24% -- about 780,000 people --
are identified as Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, or AA and HPI.
TCF has served the community for over 42 years and has provided culturally
and linguistically tailored programs and services.
Each year, we reach over 30,000 community members and serve over 3,000 clients.
Over 95% of our clients are low-income and limited English proficient members.
Next slide, please.
I'm so excited to share with you all the collective effort that the Cambodian Family
and our community partners have done together to increase children vaccination.
We know that this work cannot be done alone and cannot be done in silo.
We have closely worked with over 25 partners, including the OCAPI taskforce,
County Health Department, MECCA, OCAPICA, temples, churches, small business owners
and more to provide culturally and linguistically responsive outreach, education,
navigation, facilitation referrals and linkages to vaccine appointment and case management
and also the dissemination of the COVID-19 information and resources.
We reach out to community members in over 20 different languages and we have just culturally
and linguistically responsive outreach and education such as door-to-door
and community canvassing, cultural events such as Cambodian New Year,
tech festival with social media, after school youth program, colocation of services and more.
I just want to share with you a story.
We had a mother of two children, two years old and five years old.
She came to our center for assistance with applying for food stamps and Medicaid.
Because of the service, our health navigator was able to inform her
about the importance of getting her vaccinated.
She had a lot of concerns, and one of which is the side effects which she was scared
that her children could not take it and she could not take time off from work to take care
of her children if they get sick.
Also, her primary care provider has never mentioned anything
about getting her children vaccinated.
However, after a week or so, providing her with education and support in Khmer language,
in her own language, she talked to her husband, and she had decided
to have both her two years old and five years old children vaccinated.
I am so pleased that both of her children are now vaccinated, and they all were very happy.
The mom came back to us and thanked us for helping her navigate
through the process and addressing her concern.
This is a very important lesson learned, that the entry point
to getting children vaccinated also come from colocation of social and health services.
Using the California Department of Public Health vaccination data rate,
we have also employed a zip code-based strategy where we go out to the zip codes
that have the lowest vaccination rate.
We have also partnered with small business owners and food trucks
to increase vaccination among children and youth.
For example, at our designated vaccination clinic,
we were able to get a Vietnamese food truck to come out and provide free food to children
and their families to get vaccinated.
Achieving vaccine equity is not just about getting people vaccinated.
The Cambodian Family and our partners are also addressing the social determinants of health
by supporting children and their family with their basic and immediate needs
such as rental assistance, internet access, mental health counseling services,
public enrollment and public charter education.
Next slide, please.
I would like to share with you some of the process outcomes
of our collective effort to support children vaccination.
As you can see photo on the left, we have a taco truck coming, a food truck coming
out to provide food to our vaccinated children and family.
We have reached over 20,000 people and have
over 9,900 limited English proficient community member and cheered
and access COVID-19 vaccine and booster.
So parents, caregivers, you are not alone.
Next slide, please.
As you can see in this photo, we conducted door-to-door canvassing,
talked to the street vendor, laundromat client, donut store owner and many more.
Next slide, please.
And that has concluded my presentation.
Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Vattana.
Thanks to each of our community's superhero presenters, such powerful stories and work
that you're doing to protect our children and youth from COVID-19.
I'm sure that everyone in attendance today received a lot of great information
that you can take back to your communities and share with your own families.
I would now like to ask all of our presenters a few questions that we have received.
As a reminder, you can submit your questions using the Q&A box located
at the bottom of your screen.
We will do our very best to respond to as many questions as time allows.
We will also post answers to questions not answered during today's webinar
on the webinar webpage.
Please check this page regularly over the coming week.
A link to the webinar page is now being placed in the chat box.
So to our panelists, first to Julissa, what are some of the biggest challenges
in providing equitable care to the pediatric population?
Oh, that's a good question.
Public health departments, everyone wants to go back
to what was normal to them way back in 2019.
The status quo need to go.
We must understand that for us to live by that word, the status quo need
to go, we have to be the disrupter.
We have to be the disrupter.
And that creates conflict among cultural brokers and public health departments.
Let's look at the message.
What's wrong?
Why is it that our community is vaccinated at less than 50% in Colorado?
I don't know in your states, but based on the statistics that you guys shown,
we're not doing great in many, many states.
So let's look at the message and don't kill the messenger.
Don't go after the messenger.
Be grateful to the messenger that they have the guts
to say exactly what it is happening in the community.
Like I say again, the status quo need to go.
We must disrupt systems.
Systems in the first place were made for the Anglo community.
These systems don't work.
I don't know if we need to work on the systems or recreate systems.
But we need to do something about it.
And we keep saying the status quo need to go.
Most of us need to live by this word.
What does it mean, the status quo need to go in?
And are you willing to put the work?
Are you willing to put your blood out there?
Because leading is bleeding, my friends.
So yes, my biggest challenge is that everyone wants to go back to normal.
They want to do what they were doing in 2019.
That has to go.
Thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Julissa.
Captain van Lew, are there any examples of specific techniques that worked well
to increase vaccination rates in children within the Indian Health Service?
>> Thanks for that question.
I would say as Julissa mentioned, we need to do something different.
And we have been able to do that with COVID-19.
We found some really unique strategies that worked well.
That's going into the community, being their cultural centers.
And specifically, there was one situation in the Navajo area
where we have phenomenal teen vaccination rates.
And when we asked more questions about how that was able to happen,
how Navajo made that difference, part of it was meeting with the community where they are.
They are huge basketball fans, and so many vaccines were administered at sporting events,
where there's a lot of child and adolescent individuals.
So it's really exciting to see terrific opportunities taken in the community
and cultural community at sporting events, and doing things outside of the typical standard
of care, which is just presenting to a physician's office.
>> Thank you.
Dr. Hatcher, are there any changes you made at the beginning of the pandemic that are still
in place and that you think will last into the future?
>> Yeah, I love this question.
So the status quo has to go I think is the theme here.
We kind of -- I mentioned earlier, we got creative with parking lot tests,
so doing testing and vaccinations, meeting folks in their cars.
Drive up pharmacy has been a huge hit.
And our customer owners have been really appreciative of that.
So I think our intention is to continue that.
Especially in the Alaskan winter that's super cold, people don't want to come in.
Doing more with our home visit team.
We have providers and nurses that go into the homes and can bring vaccines to the homes
and bring medications to the homes, and virtual care.
So we did a lot of virtual care before, but we're doing way more now,
especially for our behavioral health visits.
And it's so much easier for someone to take a 15-minute break to talk to their therapist
than to take a half a day off work to come in.
So virtual care and really just sort of meeting people where they are.
That's the common theme I'm hearing here, which I think is really important.
So thank you for that question.
>> Absolutely.
Thanks. And it is great to meet people exactly where they are.
So with that, Miss Watts-Davis, what strategies did you use to engage the faith community
in supporting the COVID-19 childhood vaccination efforts?
>> Well, again, as I said, we really began to have a relationship,
again through relationships already existing with our churches.
And that's going to be really important.
Figure out things that you can actually do with your faith-based community,
as opposed to just always going to them when you want something from them.
That's true with any partner.
No one wants to just always feel like they're just being used just because you've now thought
about them when you weren't thinking about them before.
Establish those contacts now, so that --
again, our faith communities are still a big influencer,
particularly in the African American community.
They still hold a lot of influence.
And people, when I talk about credible messengers, again,
those are many of your pastors, many of your community leaders,
your neighborhood association leaders.
Leaders who are on the ground, as I say, continue to have boots on the ground,
who people in the community actually know and trust.
And that's really, really very important.
Much of the faith-based community is that.
And involving them in being able to make that difference was really very, very important,
because we already had a relationship with them.
But getting them to expand the activities that they were doing
in the community to make a difference.
>> Thank you.
So Vattana, over to you.
What is your organization's intergenerational approach
to promoting COVID-19 vaccines for children?
>> Thank you for the question.
Our Asian American, Native American, Pacific Islander community is so diverse.
Within our community, they have always 35 subgroups.
So imagine that you have to tailor those outreach and education to different groups.
So the outreach and education strategy do not look the same in each community.
For example, the Cambodian community that we work with, the majorities are immigrants
and limited English proficient, and they work in restaurants
and donut stores to provide for their family.
So most of the time the children are taken care of by their grandparents.
So when we conduct outreach and education to increase children vaccination,
we include grandparents of target groups.
Also, in our culture, the father is viewed as the head of the household
and play a significant role in make making a lot of family decision,
including health for the family, including children health as well.
That's why we also include the father as our target participant for outreach education.
So we include it in part -- we want to make sure that all the families are on board
when we talk about children vaccination.
As I mentioned earlier about a story of a mother, she had to go back to her husband --
can I get my children vaccinated?
Right? If the husband said no, the children probably would not have the opportunity
to get vaccinated.
So how do we get talking to the father as well?
Right, because usually the father is the head of the household.
How do we include that father as part of the decision making process,
and also education targeted group as well?
Thank you.
>> Absolutely.
Understanding the family dynamic is key.
So Julissa, back to you.
Tell us what culturally sensitive strategies do you use to reach Black, indigenous,
people of color or BIPOC communities?
>> What cultural strategies?
Like Miss Watts-Davis, reaching out to the Catholic churches.
50% of Latinos in Colorado are Catholics.
So we must approach the Archdiocese and everyone who's working here.
That's one theme that we all agree on, is getting to the churches,
getting where the people are at, and vaccinating them with their own cultural values.
So the strategies I have used is from going and knocking doors-to-doors,
also walking with a palletaro, which means the ice cream man,
and making sure that everybody hears that ice cream man is here,
but also that we have a COVID-19 vaccine clinic coming up soon.
So we have to understand what the community's thinking, right?
Those first arrivals, new Americans, mixed status families, what are their fears?
Why is it that we professionals want the people to come to us,
have a table and wait for them to come to us?
And if they don't come to us, then we're like, "Well, we're here.
We're serving everyone.
We're cultural competent, we're cultural aware."
That's not necessarily true.
The cultural approach is to meet the community where they're at,
respect their culture, understand their culture.
So if I don't understand an Asian community and African American community,
I will go to a cultural broker that looks like those families,
and then get into those communities.
You know, who do we think we are?
Just because we're professionals, providers, to go to the communities and say,
"Well, we're here, we did our best.
This is cultural relevant approach.
This is diversity, equity and inclusion,"
which everyone loves those words, and no one lives by it.
So, you know, those are the cultural approaches that I had had with my community.
I go knock on people's doors, introduce myself.
I don't say my big degrees titles, nothing like that.
I'm just Julissa from the block trying to save your life.
So thank you very much.
>> Awesome.
Thank you so much.
And I think we have time for maybe one more question.
So Vattana, I'm going to put back to you.
What is one key lesson learned that you have obtained from your local collaborative work
in promoting vaccinations for children?
>> Thank you.
Like I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest lessons learned that we have received
through our partnership and the work in community is that the entry point
to getting children vaccinated and also other community members,
especially LEP community members, also come from colocation of social and health services.
People would not come to you, "I want to get vaccinated."
Not that really, but they would come for,
"I want to apply for food stamps, I need to apply for Medicaid.
I would like to get some immigration paperwork done."
And using that like location of services and talk about the importance of getting
that themselves and their children vaccinated is very important.
So if you are from a community-based organization, search around your area
to see what are the social services providers, and how you can increase that partnership.
And the last thing about partnership with small business owners,
especially ethnic minority owned business, to how we can work together between the public,
the private, the business, and also the community-based organization
to increase vaccination.
For example, I was able to talk to a food truck owner, "Can you bring the food and then I tried
to write a couple more grants to support that kind of thing?"
So this is a true partnership within your area as well.
So you can localize them within those strategies within your area and see who's part
of the community that wants to build a better health and wellbeing for the community.
Thank you.
>> Thank you again, Vattana.
And thank you to all of our panelists, our superhero presenters.
You guys are amazing for the work that you're doing.
And thanks to the audience for those amazing questions.
I would now like to turn it back over to Miss Moore.
>> Thank you, Miss Anderson.
And yes, now are you ready for poll question number three?
If so, please get your computer, cell phone and other device ready to answer.
How did you hear about this webinar?
Community organization, government entity, other way, social media, email.
Don't forget to scroll down using the bar on the right to make sure you see all the choices
that we've outlined for you, including other.
Really appreciate everyone's quick response to this.
Almost there.
Just a few seconds left.
Okay, it looks like the poll has ended.
And so now we can see that we have 24% learning
from community-based organizations, 38 from government entities.
We say social media was able to attract 1%.
25% from email, and 3% from family or friends.
And again, we have about 8% coming from other.
So we're going to try and find out who other really involves.
And with that we also thank you for participating in this poll.
Getting ready to move on to our closing remarks.
It will come from Dr. Leandris Liburd, Associate Director
for Minority Health and Health Equity at the CDC.
In this capacity, she leads and supports a range of critical functions in the agency's work
with minority health, health equity and women's health.
Dr. Liburd, the virtual floor is now yours.
>> Good afternoon, everybody and thank you so much, Miss Moore.
As she said, I am Leandris Liburd, and I get the pleasure and the privilege of working
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And on behalf of our interagency workgroup, I'd like to thank and congratulate all
of our speakers for the essential work they're doing and accomplishing
in communities around the country.
You all are indeed superheroes, and I have been so impressed and so inspired by all
of the presentations and the questions, and just the participation today.
We would all agree that protecting our children from severe illness associated
with COVID-19 infections is a national priority.
Parents, grandparents, caretakers, community-based organizations and institutions
that serve children and adolescents, along with others who advocate every day for the health
and wellbeing of all youth, take seriously the decision
to get our babies, children and teens vaccinated.
We understand and agree that this decision must be based
on the best available science and be accessible.
Our goal today was to make leading experts available to you
to provide credible information and answer your questions.
We also wanted you to hear about programs going on around the country
to increase vaccination coverage among children of color.
We hope you walk away with new ideas and greater vaccine confidence,
that your questions were answered and your concerns allayed.
Put any remaining questions in the chat and we will do all we can to get an answer for you.
Thank you, audience, for participating in today's webinar.
More than 1,100 people joined us today.
Wow. I also want to thank all of the operating divisions within the Department of Health
and Human Services and their community partners who joined us today.
Special thanks go to the webinar planning team.
And I want to acknowledge Desiree Robinson, Shawn Azolakoffer, Havsatu Berry
and Snaha Kameresh for their pristine coordination, creativity and execution
of the many levels of decision making needed to make today possible.
Captain Anitra Johnson and Shayla Anderson, thank you for your sustained engagement
with all aspects of the planning, from concept to implementation of the webinar.
I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to my cochair
of the interagency workgroup Roslyn Moore, for supporting this activity and promoting it
across the department and beyond.
And a special mention of Dr. Keisha Lindsay for the many months of leadership she provided
to planning this webinar and making sure today would be a reality.
Many health disparities are largely preventable, and the current disparities
in vaccination coverage among children of color and children with disabilities can be prevented.
So thank you to everyone for all you do to bring health equity to your community.
I will now hand the program back to Miss Moore.
>> Thank you, Dr. Liburd, for your thoughtful call for action and recognition
of all the effort that led to this moment.
And now we're moving to our final poll for today.
Please get your computer, cell phone or other device ready to answer.
Please let us know how we did.
This webinar helped me to improve my knowledge about the importance
of COVID-19 vaccination for children.
And so here are some options.
Strongly agree, agree, neutral disagree, strongly disagree.
We appreciate all feedback.
We learn from it and we'll do better,
and where things have gone well, just continue in that direction.
We have 30 seconds for this as we are moving towards the end of this session.
Really appreciate everybody giving us feedback.
See the numbers rolling in.
The poll will end shortly.
We're winding down.
And we're about at a stop.
So we have 40% strongly agreeing that the information was helpful, 45% saying they agree,
that they've learned a lot about what they need to know.
13% neutral, 2% disagree and 1% strongly disagree, that this is not what they needed.
And so we'll do better next time.
Moving on, we now know that we are at a point where, as Dr. Liburd said,
it's time for us to take action, move forward.
So thank you for participating in our final poll, and for joining us
on the Protecting our Children and Youth from COVID-19: Information for Parents,
Caregivers, and Community Partners webinar.
Before you leave, please remember to visit the webinar web page
at www.cdc.gov/ protect-children, for fact sheets in seven different languages
and resources shared from today's webinar.
Please check the website regularly for the recording of today's webinar,
which will be posted within the next few weeks, and a list of answers
to questions you asked on today's webinar.
For questions or comments about today's webinar, email, omhhe@cdc.gov for additional information.
And with that, I wish everyone a great weekend, and thank you again.