Our BIPOC, immigrant, and queer communities continue to be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that BIPOC communities have shown higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death compared to white populations, with variation across the nation.

In New Mexico, our Latinx and Native communities were amongst the worse affected, having the highest rates of infection, hospitalization and death in the state.

Data shows huge disparities, like Latinx and Native communities composing over 60% of COVID-19 related deaths, while the white population only formed 1% of deaths in New Mexico. A similar pattern is reflected in the COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates of our state. With no immediate end in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to identify systematic, social, and cultural norms that are leading to COVID-19 vaccine inequities and clinical trial participation in our BIPOC communities. Working together with those directly affected will be key to the goal of addressing these life-threatening issues and developing a more equitable health structure in New Mexico.

To identify and proactively work towards alleviating these disparities, three collaborative research centers at UNM Health Sciences are conducting the Wide Engagement for Accessing COVID-19 Vaccine Equity (WEAVE NM) research study. The WEAVE NM research team is formed by UNM’s Transdisciplinary Research, Equity and Engagement Center (TREE Center), Center for Participatory Research (CPR), and the Center for Native American Health (CNAH), and is funded by the National Institute of Health’s Community Engagement Alliance (NIH CEAL). The goal is to learn the systematic, social, and cultural factors that have led to the inequities we see in COVID-19 vaccination and clinical trial participation by listening to the people who are living these disparities first hand.

“WEAVING” Our Community Voices Together For Systemic Change.

In order to uncover and capture the realities our New Mexican rural and urban Latinx and Native communities are living, WEAVE NM will focus on conducting a community based participatory research, a community survey, and a series of narrative/story-telling digital stories. More specifically, the study will primarily focus on surveying and collecting digital stories from Latinx and Native communities living in rural and urban colonias. It will also focus on collecting information from people experiencing homelessness, African American communities, and other vulnerable minority populations. WEAVE NM aims to help these communities heal and develop strategies for improved vaccine uptake and create larger structural health equity in our state.

WEAVE NM focuses on addressing four major challenges BIPOC communities are facing when it comes to vaccination rates and clinical study participation.

WEAVE NM embraces a Racial Equity Theory of Change (RETOC) in engaging widely with diverse communities for moving data to action and policy.

A RETOC approach focuses on putting research findings into action through continuous community engagement with the directly affected communities. RETOC also aims to translate research to action by centering community voice in narrative change, social and institutional practices and public policy.