“Measuring the Success of the US COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign—It’s Time to Invest in and Strengthen Immunization Information Systems” by Benjamin-Chung and Reingold advocates for an improved vaccine-tracking system. Since the approval of two COVID-19 vaccines in the US, the need for the monitoring of rates of vaccination has become a prominent issue. By collecting the relevant information, the government and medical officials can create a mapping of the vaccination effects and predict the chances of herd immunity. However, this requires a sufficient amount of data being collected from all over the country.
Strengthening the Immunization Information Systems, the IIS, is vital to building community trust for the vaccines, according to the article. Therefore, Benjamin-Chung and Reingold suggest that the IIS should have access to all vaccination records, demographic information, and rigorous evaluations. For this to be possible, the funding for IIS must be increased, which would benefit the US society as a whole (Benjamin-Chung & Reingold). In the time of a global pandemic, it is essential to give more funding to medical professionals.
Community Investment” Ojikuti highlights the issue of mistrust towards the COVID-19 vaccines within communities. He describes the current situation in the US, with the two vaccines approved for use by the FDA at the time of the article being mRNA-1273, commonly known as Moderna, and BNT162b2, or Pfizer (Ojikuti). He then proceeds to point out the insufficient involvement of Latinx, Black, and Indigenous communities in the development and distribution of the vaccines, starting with the lack of representation at the trial stage.
In the paper, Ojikuti offers possible solutions to this growing problem. As the Latinx, Black, and Indigenous communities are most at risk of COVID-19, it is vital that they not only have access to but are willing to get the vaccines available. Therefore, Ojikuti advocates for community engagement, a more long-term solution to the mistrust problem. There is a history of systematic discrimination toward these communities in the medical field, such as the Tuskegee study (McVean). Therefore, the measures that must be taken go beyond the short-term goal of maximizing vaccination numbers.
Works Cited
Benjamin-Chung, Jade & Reingold, Arthur. “Measuring the Success of the US COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign—It’s Time to Invest in and Strengthen Immunization Information Systems.” AJPH, vol. 111, no. 6, 2021, pp. 1078-1080.
McVean, Ada. “40 Years of Human Experimentation in America: The Tuskegee Study.”Office for Science and Society at McGill University, 2019.
Ojikutu, Bisola O., et al. “Building Trust in COVID-19 Vaccines and Beyond Through Authentic Community Investment.” AJPH, vol. 111, no. 3, 2021, pp. 366-368.