RALEIGH — To ensure more North Carolinians have access to the information they need to make decisions about their health and wellbeing, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has made key COVID-19 vaccine information available in the state’s most used languages. In addition to a dedicated Spanish webpage for COVID-19 vaccines, vacunate.nc.gov, materials and videos in English and Spanish, NCDHHS now has COVID-19 vaccine materials in the state’s five other most used languages.
In a state as diverse as North Carolina where more than 11.8% of the state’s population uses a language other than English at home, providing information in multiple languages is part of the department’s ongoing commitment to health equity.
Information outlining the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, the right to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine and the importance of vaccination for kids and teens was translated into Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese and is available for download in the COVID-19 Communications Toolkit.
“COVID-19 brought the inequities in our systems into focus, including how language can be a major barrier to getting critical health information,” said Victor Armstrong, MSW, NCDHHS Chief Health Equity Officer. “Delivering information in words that people understand is the first step in creating a fair and just opportunity for them to live their healthiest lives.”
NCDHHS is partnering with more than 36 organizations, including those that work closely with refugee and immigrant communities, to distribute these new materials. These organizations also helped review materials to ensure the translations were accurate and culturally competent.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, NCHDHHS has ensured up-to-date information on treatment, vaccination and other topics is available in English and Spanish. Since March 2021, NCDHHS has hosted six Spanish-language town halls, or Cafecitos, covering a range of COVID-19 topics. Materials for the StrongSchoolsNC school testing program were made available in the Fall of 2021 in 21 languages to meet the needs and requests of participating school districts.
NCDHHS also makes sure information about COVID-19 is accessible to North Carolina’s 1.2 million people who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind. All press briefings are interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL) as well as captioned. Captioned, ASL videos with information about COVID-19 and the vaccine are available on our website.
The COVID-19 website is screen reader compatible for those who are blind or low-vision.
The department is taking steps to expand services that address language access, but acknowledges it has a long way to go when it comes to information outside of COVID-19. NCDHHS plans to provide free training and technical assistance to organizations on cultural competence providers and language access, based on the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care, a set of 15 action steps that organizations take to reduce the cultural and linguistic barriers that diminish quality care and sustain health disparities.
NCDHHS encourages everyone to use the COVID-19 Communications Toolkit to share accurate information about COVID-19 with their community.
