Levy Leads Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Project

Immunizations, health disparities and COVID-19

The University of Memphis School of Public Health has been awarded two-year funding totaling $927,479 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify barriers and motivators to COVID-19 immunization among vulnerable populations in Shelby County at high risk for poor health outcomes due to low vaccination rates.

As part of the Shelby County Health Department’s grant award CDC-RFA-OT21-2103: National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities, researchers will measure the short-term impact of strategies to improve vaccine uptake in vulnerable populations of Shelby County. This process is designed to help control COVID-19 transmission among vulnerable populations in nine (9) zip codes of highest transmission and lowest vaccine uptake compared to other Memphis MSA zip codes. 

Dr. Marian Levy, Interim Dean of the School of Public Health, is Principal Investigator. Co-investigators are Drs. Latrice Pichon, associate professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vikki Nolan, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health and assistant dean for Academic Affairs, and Fawaz Mzayek, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health.

For more information on this award, contact Levy at mlevy@memphis.edu.