Vaccination Navigation, Access, and Hesitancy Among Refugees in Calgary, AB: A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 vaccines provide between 80—95% protection against the disease and to reach herd immunity, between 70-83% of the population needs to be vaccinated. Access, as well as hesitancy, to vaccine can affect reaching this target. Refugees and new immigrants are at higher risk of being infected with COVID-191,3, and they may have inequitable access to vaccine. To overcome the inequity to access vaccine and addressing hesitancy in refugees and new immigrants, various outreach programs have been implemented globally 2,3,4,5,6. Objectives: The aim of this scoping review is to explore the model of delivery of Covid-19 vaccination and other common infectious disease vaccinations in newcomers and refugee populations. Method: Articles will be included if they were published in the year 2000 or later, focused on vaccine or immunization delivery, programs, initiatives, or policies among refugees, immigrants, migrants, asylum seekers or newcomers; or addressed vaccine hesitancy; and occurred during epidemic or endemic times. Study designs included in this scoping review will be randomized controlled trials or observational studies. MEDLINE, Ovid Healthstar, OVID Embase, OVID Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Science Direct, Academic Search Complete, Google Scholar, Social Work Abstracts, and JSTOR databases were searched using controlled vocabulary terms and keywords for the following concepts: Covid-19 and major immunizations generally administered on a schedule, vaccines OR immunizations, refugees, asylum seekers, newcomers and immigrants. Grey literature was searched using Google’s site search feature for relevant news articles or social media, as well as non-government organization (NGO) and intergovernmental organization (IGO) websites for information specific to those organizations. Articles from academic databases will be exported to COVIDENCE followed by two rounds of screening, including the initial title/abstract review, followed by full text screening. Conflicts will be resolved by the Primary Investigator. Grey Literature will be collected in an excel spreadsheet and included to inform the background and discussion.
Description
Funded by the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine-Co-RIG II Grant
Keywords
Refugee, COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine access
Citation
Aghajafari, F., Ness, A., McClurg, C., Wall, L., & Pooladi-Darvish, A. (2022). Vaccination Navigation, Access, and Hesitancy Among Refugees in Calgary, AB: A Scoping Review Protocol [Protocol]. Unviersity of Calgary, Calgary, AB.