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A summary of presentations from the weekly Summit partner webinars

February 5, 2026 – The latest Summit Summary

National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) Update – Chinoso (Chinnie) Ukachukwu, MPH, Senior Director, Quality Improvement and Equity, NMQF and Laura Lee Hall, PhD, President Emeritus, Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity, NMQF

Chinnie Ukachukwu, MPH, and Laura Lee Hall, PhD, gave an update about the National Minority Quality Forum and vaccines.

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NMQF and Vaccines – Chinnie Ukachukwu, MPH, and Laura Lee Hall, PhD
NMQF is a not-for-profit founded in 1998 and dedicated to promoting health equity through research, education, and advocacy. The Center for Sustainable Healthcare Quality and Equity (SHC) is part of NMQF and its programs reach into the community through clinician engagement and community interventions.

DRIVE is one of SHC’s signature programs.

  • DRIVE [Driving Real Improvements in Value and Equity] — This program is focused on quality improvement (QI) and equity with an emphasis on team-based activities, education, community engagement, and communication/celebration. Resources include:
    • A collection of free modular toolkits available online, related to topics such as vaccines, shingles, flu, and COVID, and including social media resources and information about how to work with the media.
    • Community resources about RSV, COVID, adult vaccines, Black maternal health, diabetes, healthy aging, and more.
    • Educational modules geared toward the pharmacist tech.
  • Additional NMQF Resources
    • Monthly 1-Pagers: These dive into vaccine information updates and deliver key messages.
    • Friday Webinars: The last Friday of the month is focused on vaccines.
    • Select Presentations: For example, a presentation from Dr. Keith C. Ferdinand, “Combatting Vaccine Misinformation and Policy Turmoil with Data and Community Action from Trusted Voices.”
  • DRIVE participants and partnerships from 2024-2025 were initiated by medical students, hairdressers…anyone from the community who was interested in spreading the word. Organizations who partnered included (among many more):
    • ARCare
    • Asian American Health Coalition
    • Faith Health Alliance
    • Medical College of Georgia
    • HAIR Wellness Warriors
    • National Association of Free and Charitable Churches
    • University of Cincinnati
    • Walgreens
  • These partners do more than organize vaccination events, they are engaged in communications campaigns that include TV, radio, social media, and digital streaming. They use billboards and gift cards and strategic partnerships within planned community events.

DRIVE Results

  • According to NMQF’s calculations, DRIVE has resulted in at least a 10% increase in the number of flu vaccinations within partnership communities each year, for the last three years.
    • For example, under the Flu Ready NOLA Vaccine Campaign — which included 4 flu and COVID events, promotional yard signs, flyers, and assorted media, and a $20 incentive gift card — in the Orleans Parish, the number of African Americans who received flu shots grew from 3,235 in 2023 to 4,219 in 2024 (for the same period each year: January to March). This group regularly includes vaccine clinics within existing event infrastructure.
    • Another example, the Elmhurst shingles program to drive vaccination through QI intervention included an advisory group, clinical and community partner survey(s), a toolkit, and a community pharmacist ambassador’s module. This program resulted in a 650% increase in patients receiving at least one dose and a 1000+% increase in full-series completion. Among 18K+ eligible adults, completion rate grew from 43% to 63%.

Faith Health Alliance
This alliance is a network of pastors and church leaders, including regional networks, from black and brown churches working to improve the health of congregants and community members through education and services (or connection to service providers).

  • In 2025, there were 62 events, leading to 2,800 flu vaccinations.
  • SHC helps these partners develop ambassadors/educators and connect with their communities through activities such as listening sessions and peer-to-peer educational presentations.
  • Of the people in these partner churches, 75% have gotten a flu shot.
  • A survey last year showed a relatively equal impact between doctor and pastor recommendations for flu shots.

New SHC Programs

  • NMQF and Ark Church Health Advocacy Workshop: An advocacy training workshop largely focused on vaccines and RSV in infants.
  • First Annual Quality Improvement Equity (QIE) Champion Training Program: A QI leadership training program for clinicians and community leaders, including an honorarium and free training.

U.S. Vaccine Climate: Community Voices Through an Equity Lens (Early 2026)
SHC has sought feedback from community partners and clinicians. Received feedback suggests:

  • Vaccine information seems inconsistent or hard to navigate.
  • Safety questions increase when guidance changes.
  • Trust grows when information comes from familiar, trusted sources.
  • More families are asking thoughtful questions.
  • Hesitancy is driven by uncertainty, not refusal.
  • Time, empathy, and relationship-building matter more than ever.

SHC Concerns and Next Steps
People of color and from under-resourced communities are especially and increasingly vulnerable in the current vaccine policy environment. Inclusion of trusted voices is critical for public health in these communities. SHC will continue to provide resources for free and seek partnerships for programming, research, QI, and community engagement.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Could you expand on the effectiveness of these resources and how you evaluated them?
Laura Lee Hall (NMQF): When we talk about the clinical side, and the DRIVE program, invariably, we see 10%. I think there was one program where we didn’t see improvement, and it was because the week they launched it, they were changing their EHR system. Routinely, our partners realize at least a 10% increase. Sometimes they increase more dramatically. The South Georgia Medical Group was not going to offer flu shots the first year they joined us. And just by signing up to the program, they became vaccinators. So that’s a 100% improvement. Same thing with shingles — just raising awareness among folks without the shingles vaccine. We can confidently say, and we haven’t published most of it because we haven’t had the resources to do that, but we’ve seen at least 10% increases, often much more. In terms of the community, that’s a little bit harder to document the pre and post. We know that people learn. We know that their attitudes, because we do pre- and post-self-reporting, change for the better in terms of accepting a health innovation. We have a diabetes self-management education program at one church that’s linked to vaccination, because I guess we can’t do anything unless there’s a vaccine thing in it. We saw people, lose about 5% of their body weight in a 9-month program. And we have worked with partners who are bona fide researchers, and they saw blood pressure improvements as well in that program, and A1C. We were able to document reach, that’s a measure of impact. Our New Orleans program, because there’s a database there of vaccination rates from the health department, we saw a good 10% improvement in the African American population year after year for 4 years and going. So, I feel very confident that what we’re [accomplishing] is the real deal.
Chinnie Ukachukwu (NMWF): I totally agree. There’s been a consistent increase — and, yes, in community it looks a little different but that’s why we’re also collecting stories. It’s how people are changing their minds and their opinions, it’s about knowledge, meeting people where they are, and either way, we’ve seen improvement, and that’s what the programs are about.

Q: Do you partner with health departments? Is that something you’re open to, if there are health departments who are interested in working with you and deploying your tools?
Laura Lee Hall (NMQF): Yes, we would love to work with more health departments. We’ve worked with the New Orleans Health Department, and Dr. Jennifer Avigno, for 7 years — from when I came to NMQF. Health departments don’t often have money, unfortunately; but they do have vaccines, they often have data, they often are advisors to state policy or city policy making. They have connections to health systems and other stakeholders. We always put the local partner in front, they are the ones [that we want] to build relationships with health departments: We want them to build the relationships with their local health department. And I know that Bishop Carter has been very effective in doing that in Baltimore City. I think in Columbia and South Carolina have [also] been very effective.
Chinnie Ukachukwu (NMQF): Yes, they have been, and Ohio as well. So, like Laura Lee said, the goal is introducing them as partners to their local health department, so they can always go back there. Recently, my partner in Virginia had reached out to their local health department to try to get vaccines for a clinic.
Laura Lee Hall (NMQF): At our advocacy meeting training this year, we’re probably going to ask several people to bring a friend from their health department to the meeting. So, people can learn more about how you’d go about building that relationship and what each side can offer to the other.

Q: Regarding the New Orleans experience, it’s increasingly apparent that facts alone are not sufficient to get people to accept vaccinations, but that a trusted community messenger is critical, that person that you’ve developed a long-term relationship with. Have you looked at the cost of including in-kind help for initiating these quality improvement programs?
Laura Lee Hall (NMQF): We really don’t have the resources to do those kinds of analyses, but recently, NMQF staff have been doing some examination of Medicare claims data, as well as Medicaid claims data. So, we were able to look at the differences by race in terms of vaccine receipt. And in the Medicaid paper, I believe they showed some cost savings in the Medicaid program.
Chinnie Ukachukwu (NMQF): There were cost savings, but I cannot give you the numbers; I don’t want to misquote. We can find that and share that with you all, if it would be helpful.

Q: It’s also partners who can provide immunizations for uninsured. For uninsured patients, to get adults vaccinated… I would love some tips for the rest of us.
Laura Lee Hall (NMQF): Cost is a barrier. The cost issue is a real one. And that’s why advocacy is important: To make sure that there’s some availability there. And getting information to folks on how they can access [vaccines] at a reasonable cost, if any. It’s why we were so concerned about what’s happening in federal vaccine policymaking, because it may, despite what everybody’s saying, come down to the fact that costs are going to go up. And people can’t afford $100 vaccine. And that’s cheap. But do not underestimate the impact of mistrust and previous discrimination in the health system. That is a big barrier, too. It’s why having these voices that are trusted, be part of the communications, is so important. What are the worst numbers in terms of vaccination? Black pregnant women. It’s deplorable. And we know that there’s a maternal health crisis in this population.

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