Table 1.

Strategies to ensure globally the equitable allocation and acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccine for Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other People of Color (BILPOC) adolescents and young adults (AYAs)

• Work with BILPOC, including AYAs, to promote trust in COVID-19 vaccination efforts to eliminate COVID-19 health disparities and ensure global health equity; the best predictor of adolescent acceptance of vaccination is parental acceptance. • Acknowledge racism exists in medicine and medical history as the first step in helping to restore BILPOC's trust. • Increase enrollment of racially and ethnically diverse AYAs in vaccine clinical trials; globally and actively engage racially and ethnically diverse scientists as investigators in vaccine clinical trials and as members of scientific advisory boards. • Include all youth attending school, sports, and social activities and those living in close quarters, with unstable housing, in the juvenile justice system, or working part-time as essential workers. • Involve trusted community-based organizations, tribal partners, and AYA influencers in implementation of vaccine allocation and location of vaccination sites. • Consider a 2-prong strategy that focuses on encouraging parental support and adolescent autonomy to make their own decisions about COVID-19 vaccination. • Have an equity lens on culturally tailored vaccine distribution and hesitancy plans. • Reshape global constructs of health inequalities including structural racism and xenophobia, to increase the capacity of health-care systems and to access vaccines with an equity lens. • Ensure equitable access to vaccines for the people most at risk everywhere in the world, regardless of their ability to pay, through the support of The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Vaccine Alliance, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation and the WHO, which are leading the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX). • Recognize intentionality in addressing equity may include prioritization of BILPOC communities and must engage them in the development and dissemination of public communication strategies and products. • Design vaccination outreach and messaging programs that consider the psychosocial developmental characteristics of AYAs such as desires to seek social inclusion, limited capacity in future orientation, and the importance of social media. • Use graphs, voices, and videos, appealing to all languages and learning styles. • Create and evaluate the use of technology such as social media, text messaging, gaming, and applications as unique AYA strategies to provide accurate, up-to-date, tailored information to achieve high acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations among BILPOC AYAs. • Inform individuals who may be migrant workers, undocumented immigrants, or uninsured that the vaccine is free; that most states do not require proof of residency or other documents; and that receipt of the vaccine is not connected with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.