Columbia’s Vaccine Education and Distribution Project
Dr. Magda Sobieszczyk is the Chief of Infectious Diseases at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Sobieszczyk is a clinical virologist and the principal investigator of the NIH-funded Columbia Collaborative Clinical Trials Unit which has been advancing the science of HIV and emerging infections like SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Sobieszczyk joined Dr. Hyesoo Lowe on an episode of the Columbia Surgery Podcast Series: Conversations & Curbsides. The two doctors discussed an ongoing initiative to connect with Columbia’s local community. The project aims to provide more people with accurate information about vaccines, as well as safe access to them.
The following is a transcription of the discussion, and is lightly edited for context and clarity.
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Introduction
Dr. Hyesoo Lowe:
I'm delighted to be joined today by Dr. Magda Sobieszczyk, professor and chief of the Infectious Disease Division here at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Thanks for talking to us today.
Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk:
Great. Thank you so much for having me.
Vaccine Education & Distribution
Dr. Hyesoo Lowe:
It seems that there is much more availability, of course, now of the COVID vaccines and a lower uptake of actually getting the COVID vaccine. So I wonder if you might tell us a little bit about your work, which we're aware that you do on vaccine awareness and distribution?
Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk:
The majority of individuals were really kind of running to get their first shot and complete the primary series. But I have to admit that even in the beginning, the distribution of vaccines and uptake of vaccines was uneven. It wasn't the same across all geographical areas. And we actually anticipated that there would be barriers to COVID vaccine uptake based on experience and based on information from uptake of vaccines like the flu vaccine and other preventive vaccines like HPV, human papillomavirus vaccine, and other important vaccines to young individuals. And those vaccines have been around for a while.
So the work that we did with the support of many individuals and entities at and beyond the medical center was to try to understand whether there'll be something different about barriers to uptake of COVID vaccines from other vaccines. It really takes a village to do this kind of work.
We were anticipating that, because these vaccines were developed so quickly and distributed as rapidly as possible, that there would be hesitation in taking these vaccines. And there were also a lot of confusing public-facing messages. There still are a lot of confusing public-facing messages. So we knew that there would be a lot of misinformation that needed to be addressed.
Addressing Vaccine Barriers
Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk:
So we wanted to study reasons for and barriers to vaccine uptake and kind of pave the way for implementation of future COVID vaccines. This was a multi-pronged effort.
The first step was improving and really gaining understanding of factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy. So we conducted surveys and in-depth interviews, surveys of the community, especially here around Columbia, kind of a patient community. And surveys and also in-depth interviews of providers and of patients. And the goal for that was to understand what the barriers are and develop something called shared decision-making tools so that providers would be empowered to counsel their patients about how to address their questions and how to address their vaccine hesitancy.
Next, we worked with trusted community partners who are connected with at-risk communities to serve as COVID-19 vaccine champions. We trained vaccine champions using the flu vaccine model and worked with community-based organizations, like Harlem Pride, to distribute vaccines and to distribute these vaccines also at The Forum, the community center in Manhattanville. And the work of community health workers, that's led by Jide Williams and Rafael Lantigua was kind of instrumental in this.
They were wonderful ambassadors and translated a lot of the messages from the medical center to the community around us. So this was very much an effort of many individuals in my division, like Dr. Delivette Castor. And we mobilized quite quickly to do this.
Vaccines Not “Boosters”
Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk:
And I should mention that this type of work needs to continue because, as you were commenting on, a lot of people got the initial vaccines but not the boosters. And I think that what we are learning from our work is that there's a lot of vaccine fatigue at this point, and people are also still confused by the recommendations as to who should be getting the vaccine or not. So simple messaging is important.
We also learned that a lot of our patients and community members identified additional needs and educational priorities that we have to devote attention to, like not only talking about vaccines but talking about other vaccines.You were asking about the flu and pneumonia vaccines.
Talking about long COVID, which is an issue that's prevalent in many individuals, and nutrition and recovery from long COVID, and mental health and stress. So incorporating those educational messages into, wrapping it into the education about COVID vaccines and vaccines in general is important because it pays attention to what the community needs and further establishes trust.
So this has been quite a journey actually, as you can imagine.
Dr. Hyesoo Lowe:
I can imagine. The task is huge, and even just to get messaging across probably requires a tremendous amount of resources. And it's probably frustrating because here we have the riches of all these different vaccines. It's almost an embarrassment of riches. We have all of this available, but we really need people to understand it and then take it so that they can help themselves and be healthy. So to get that message across definitely takes a lot of work.
Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk:
And it's also about making it easier for people to access the vaccines, so sort of creating trusted spaces where they can go and easily access it. And the work that I'm describing, I mentioned to you lots of individuals were involved. We wouldn't have been able to do it without grants and philanthropy, so grants from various foundations, from Bank of America, and grants from the NIH.
So it's been really very much an all-hands-on-deck kind of an approach.
FURTHER READING
- Columbia Surgery Podcast Series: Conversations & Curbsides
- Vaccines: Who is Eligible for Which This Vax Season?
- Getting Clear on Common Covid Vaccine Side FX