Reach Diverse Communities

Patients should know that the COVID-19 vaccines were tested on tens of thousands of people—a larger and more diverse group than is usual for most clinical trials. The Pfizer and Moderna trials enrolled more than 10,000 Hispanic patients combined and more than 6,000 Black patients. Johnson & Johnson/Janssen's COVID-19 vaccine trial was the largest and included the most geographically and ethnically diverse populations to date. Furthermore, some of the COVID-19 vaccine researchers themselves represent diverse backgrounds.

Vaccine	Total US Population Age 16+	Pfizer-BioNTech	Moderna	Janssen (J&J)
Total People	Total US Population Age 16+258 million	Pfizer-BioNTech40,277	Moderna27,817	Janssen39,321
Race
RaceWhite	Population %73.6%	Pfizer-BioNTech81.9%	Moderna79.4%	Janssen62.1%
RaceBlack	Population %12.3%	Pfizer-BioNTech9.8%	Moderna9.7%	Janssen17.2%
RaceAsian	Population %5.9%	Pfizer-BioNTech4.4%	Moderna4.7%	Janssen3.5%
RaceAmerican Indian or Alaska Native	Population %0.8%	Pfizer-BioNTech0.6%	Moderna0.8%	Janssen8.3%
RaceNative Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	Population %0.2%	Pfizer-BioNTech0.2%	Moderna0.2%	Janssen0.3%
Ethnicity
EthnicityHispanic or Latino	Population %17.6%	Pfizer-BioNTech26.2%	Moderna20.0%	Janssen45.1%
EthnicityNot Hispanic or Latino	Population %82.4%	Pfizer-BioNTech73.2%	Moderna79.1%	Janssen52.4%

Access more information about Racial Diversity within COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials.

Building a foundation of trust and understanding is a critical first step in reaching diverse communities. In the Black community, for example, there is a longstanding distrust of medical care in the United States due to previous situations, such as the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Many minoritized communities experience a lack of access to care today and may receive subpar care. Know what drives vaccine confidence, or a lack of confidence, to help tailor your approach and have meaningful conversations with members of all communities.

Dr. Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner talks about COVID-19 vaccines and the LatinX community in this video. She says, “My message always comes back to family.” Her advice for building vaccine confidence is to talk with patients about how getting sick with COVID-19 could impact their ability to work and support their family.

CDC has developed a guide for community partners on Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Members of Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities. This in-depth resource contains several strategies and resources that can be used to build COVID-19 vaccination confidence and access in racial and ethnic minority communities.

Watch APhA’s Open Forum Webinar on Helping Underserved Patients Overcome COVID-19 Vaccine Concerns to hear practical information on how to improve access and uptake of vaccinations, while taking into account social determinants of health that result in health disparities.

Patient Resources in Other Languages

Access the library of Patient Resources for more information and handouts.