CUNY Graduate School of Public Health Launches Sweeping Vaccine Research and Literacy Campaign

NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In a race to transform the vaccine-hesitant into adopters in New York City and surrounding counties as Covid-19 variants rise, the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) has announced the New York State Vaccine Education and Adoption Project. Building upon the school's pandemic-long commitment to surveying New Yorkers to understand perspectives and its emphasis on engaging community, the project will accomplish three critical goals: to measure vaccine sentiments in the lower nine counties of New York State, to visualize these sentiments to understand where pockets of hesitancy exist, and finally, to design a vaccine literacy program for the most deeply hesitant communities across the five boroughs of New York, as well as Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Three philanthropic leaders – The New York Community Trust, Altman Foundation, and New York State Health Foundation – have committed a total of $425,000 to establish the New York Vaccine Literacy Campaign and support the effort through the next 18 months.

"We as New Yorkers and as a nation are at a crucial juncture in fighting a global pandemic that has erased lives and livelihoods. Unless we are able to engage every neighborhood in vaccine acceptance with respect and information, we leave ourselves vulnerable to variants and a shortfall of herd immunity," said Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of CUNY SPH. "Hesitancy due to misinformation, bias or other causes should not prevent our city and the surrounding region from overcoming this crisis. This research will allow insights into a host of factors barring vaccination."

The New York Vaccine Literacy Campaign is a component of the CONVINCE USA Initiative at CUNY SPH, led by Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Scott Ratzan.

"Measuring sentiments from New Yorkers with specificity down to the community level will give us insights into the driving forces to bolster vaccine confidence and trust," said Dr. Ratzan. "CUNY SPH and the CONVINCE USA Initiative have a strong track record of surveying New Yorkers throughout the pandemic. Support from these three funders will allow us to advance vaccine literacy that ultimately will help support the vaccination efforts in the city and state."

Trio of Funders Committed to New York's Health

New York was unquestionably hit hard by the pandemic, and the collective funding of CUNY SPH by three key institutions will enable the school to survey New Yorkers for sentiments, establish an interactive dashboard display to visualize results, and work in collaboration with community leaders to build communications tools to establish trust and familiarity with vaccines and the vaccination process.

For more information, contact:
Lynthia Romney
[email protected]

SOURCE CUNY SPH