The National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) has long supported equitable vaccination access for urban American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, AI/AN adults were over 20% less likely to have received their yearly vaccine and 40% more likely to be admitted to the ICU due to influenza than their non-Hispanic White counterparts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a renewed public attention to vaccine-preventable illness. Staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccination remains the best line of protection against at disease that has hospitalized AI/AN people 3.1 times as often as non-Hispanic White people.
With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NCUIH has been working to promote equitable adult vaccination and prevent severe illnesses such as COVID-19 and influenza. We do this by enhancing the resource and evidence base, developing effective strategies for health care organizations, and creating culturally appropriate materials for individual clinicians that reflect the needs of urban AI/AN people.