This systematic review will investigate the barriers to vaccine uptake among people experiencing homelessness and evaluate interventions to improve vaccination rates. People experiencing homelessness face significant health disparities, including limited access to healthcare, mental health diagnoses, unstable housing, and low health literacy, all of which contribute to lower vaccination rates (Fazel et al., 2014; Tsai & Wilson, 2020). This review aims to highlight and identify key risk factors from the literature and assess their impact on vaccine decision making. It will also seek to assess the effectiveness of specific public health strategies and interventions to address these barriers (e.g. mobile vaccination units, incentive programs, etc). The findings will provide actionable insights to inform public health campaigns, primary care interventions, and policy recommendations aimed at improving vaccine access and health outcomes for homeless individuals, with a focus on applications for the Windsor and Ontario community as well as broader implications for other jurisdictions.
By targeting the specific barriers faced by this group, our review could inform future public health campaigns and healthcare practices by identifying individuals at high-risk for being vaccine-averse and using a tailored approach to accommodate for their needs. With this approach, we anticipate increased vaccination rates and health outcomes for PEH. We also anticipate that the results will support the development of best practice guidelines for primary care clinicians and policymakers for addressing vaccine access among PEH, and learning how to bridge the gap between healthcare and PEH. This systematic review will ultimately advance knowledge on how homelessness affects vaccine uptake and provide valuable recommendations for interventions that can improve vaccine access in this vulnerable population, contributing to broader public health efforts.
