Can partnering with community-based organizations increase vaccine rates for underrepresented Americans?

Seasonal vaccination against influenza and COVID-19 significantly reduces the risks of severe illness, hospitalization, and mortality.

Yet, national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consistently show persistent racial and ethnic disparities in vaccine uptake. Rates among Latinx, Black, Native American, and Asian American populations remain lower than those of non-Latinx White populations, resulting in an elevated risk of preventable illness and death for the underdocumented populations.

One method to boost vaccination rates for these populations is partnership with community-based organizations that already work with these groups. To evaluate whether these partnerships can bridge vaccine health equity gaps, researchers at UC Berkeley School of Public Health and their partner at USAging investigated vaccination community partnerships that were part of the federal government’s Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC).

Launched as a federal initiative by the Biden administration in 2022 and funded with $75 million from the Administration for Community Living, the ADVC deployed grants to USAging to partner with local community-based organizations.

Led by UC Berkeley Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management Amanda Brewster, the research team analyzed whether going outside standard distribution systems could effectively counter racial and ethnic disparities.

“Typically, the standard route is that most of these vaccines are distributed through pharmacies,” said Brewster “That’s the default channel.” But this channel was historically under-reaching the populations ADVC was trying to vaccinate.

However, after examining 6,032 vaccination events held across the country by 168 organizations between 2023 and 2025, the research team found that community-based organizations were making up ground for the target groups.

The results were both surprising and highly encouraging: 69% of the analyzed ADVC events successfully counteracted national disparities by overrepresenting historically undervaccinated groups relative to their local county populations.

“We were actually quite surprised to see that most of the vaccination events that community partners held were actually overrepresenting these populations that tended to have lower vaccination rates,” said Brewster.

The study highlighted several key operational strategies that further drove success. Incentives like gift cards doubled the likelihood of overrepresenting Black and Latinx populations. Wraparound services, such as combining vaccination with food or housing assistance, also drove participation.

For Asian American and Native American engagement, partnership with culturally connected community groups was the strongest predictor of success.

Although federal ADVC grant funding concluded in 2025, Dr. Brewster notes that these findings offer actionable evidence for state, county, and local public health agencies aiming to improve equity without relying solely on federal interventions. By partnering with trusted, hyper-local organizations, public health systems can establish durable, community-rooted infrastructure for future seasonal vaccination campaigns.

So what’s next? “In the next phase of our study, we’re comparing locations that got grants and got intervention against the many places in the country that didn’t get exposure to this,” said Brewster.