COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Initiative

Toward ensuring equitable enrollment and engagement of African Americans in
ENSEMBLE, proposed foci for the Accelerator and an Advisory Committee might include
but are not limited to the following five areas:
1. Direct Participant Recruitment: Guide and evaluate tailored recruitment
strategies and priorities in partnership with diverse stakeholders and cultural
institutions. This might entail focus groups and the administering of
questionnaires.
2. Educational Hub: Disseminate at our website and through local partners
interactive curricula on vaccines and clinical trials.
3. Vaccine Engagement and Outreach Network: Implement identified outreach
strategies with our large database of physician leaders who serve minority and
traditionally medically under-served populations.
4. Investigator Pipeline: Cultivate scientific workforce diversity and pipeline of
vaccine clinical trial investigators through our Cobb Scholars Program and in
collaboration with NMA and HBCU partners. We are also spearheading an early
career mentoring network that we believe serves as a solution to the race
discordance barrier observed among investigators and potential clinical-trial
participants.
5. Vaccine Community Awareness: Host symposia and roundtables that are
accessible to the public around vaccine development and research ethics to be
held at the Annual W. Montague Cobb Symposium at the NMA Convention or
Moffitt Cancer Center. Participate in interviews for various media outlets as well
as and social media around topics of diverse participation and equitable benefit
from research findings and their translation.