Assessing patients’ access to masks and the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines in the emergency department

Sergio J. Marquez, MS-IV; Jesus R. Torres, MD, MPH; Breena Taira MD, MPH; Robert Rodriguez, MD

Emergency Departments (EDs) serve as the primary (and often only) health care access point to many vulnerable patient populations. As such, any efforts to protect this population that is at risk for poor outcomes from COVID-19 infection must consider ED based interventions; this is especially critical in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three staples of COVID-19 prevention are social distancing, masks and vaccines. Due to housing and other socioeconomic constraints, the aforementioned vulnerable groups whose primary care occurs in EDs often have difficulties with social distancing, thus emphasizing the need to make vaccines widely available. Prior studies in this field have shown that a number of public health interventions, especially immunization programs for influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia, are feasible and can be implemented quickly in the ED. Our study was a multicenter qualitative survey study at the Olive-View UCLA Medical Center, Emergency Department. Results showed that 61% (95% CI 60-63) of all participants reported they would accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Furthermore, 94% (95% CI 92-95) of all participants who reported they would accept the vaccine, stated they would receive the vaccine in the ED. The majority of participants in this study were amenable to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as part of their care in the ED, thus the ED may serve as important avenue for vaccine distribution, especially for underserved patients.

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