Co-design and implement a COVID-19 vaccine uptake intervention within Chinese communities in England

This study addresses the call of the UK Government Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) (2020a) by investigating complex and multi-layered factors and determinants of Chinese communities' vaccine hesitancy, as well as the barriers and facilitators of vaccination uptake.

Through focus groups (up to 16 groups), interviews (up to 20) and surveys (up to 1,000) with members of the Chinese communities and community workers, this study will address gaps in knowledge by exploring the understanding, attitude, risk perceptions, trust, source of information, barriers, facilitators, and concerns of the communities.

The central aim of the study is to use the above empirical data to inform the co-design/development and implementation/evaluation of a communicative intervention to promote the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines with the Chinese communities.

The study will then explore the opportunities to scale up its impact in other cities in England where there are large Chinese populations.

It will also explore the possibility of adapting the resources developed from this study for other ethnic communities in collaboration with the Centre for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Health which has well-established connections with Black, Asian, Ethnic Minorities (BAME) communities.

Core digital resources (app codes, databases) and content (radio jingle, animation story board, leaflets) will be produced as templates and made publicly available for cultural adaptation for other ethnic community organisations.

The project will produce reports with advice, guidance and best practices for community organisations, the NHS Clinical Commission Groups (CCGs) and policy makers (e.g. Sage ethnicity subgroup) and a standard scholarly publication.