Last updated: 24 June 2022
Vaccination uptake amongst people facing homelessness is not as high as in the rest of the population. These videos and leaflets, for individuals and services, will help the homelessness sector to increase uptake.
The COVID-19 vaccine can help people experiencing homelessness avoid severe illness and even death from the disease, but we know that take up of the vaccine has been much lower than was hoped within this community than the population as a whole.
Homeless Link and Groundswell are members, along with Pathway, of the Homeless Health Consortium, and together we have created this toolkit.
Our aim is to help people experiencing homelessness, and those working to support them, to:
- understand what their rights and entitlements are
- have open conversations about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine
- feel informed about how to continue staying safe
This work was funded via the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
Free leaflet for clients
This leaflet has been created by Groundswell with and for people experiencing homelessness. It has also had input from clinical staff.
It includes the current advice on continuing to stay safe, information about having the vaccine, and advice from Groundswell Peers with experience of homelessness.
You can download the leaflet or order printed copies in English, Amharic, Arabic, Polish, Romanian and Tigrinya from the Groundswell website.
Why getting vaccinated is a good idea
In this video for use with clients, Dr Binta Sultan, Consultant in Inclusion Health from University College London Hospital NHS Foundation, talks about some of the medical aspects of the COVID-19 vaccine, including how it helps keep people well and out of hospital, experiencing side effects, who has the right to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and when a fourth dose will be available for people with vulnerabilities.
Having conversations about the COVID-19 vaccine with people experiencing homelessness, a motivational interviewing tool.
In this video for homelessness services, Steph Ratcliffe from St Mungo's, talks about the Motivational Interviewing and COVID-19 Vaccination tool developed by St Mungo’s. The aim of the tool is to help anyone working with people experiencing homelessness to have thoughtful and inclusive conversations about healthcare and vaccine access. You can find this tool here.
Supporting people experiencing homelessness to access the COVID-19 vaccine on their terms
In this video for homelessness services, Beryl Cross from Groundswell talks about meeting people where they’re at in the recovery journey. When people experiencing homelessness often struggle to make and attend fixed appointments, how can we help those we work with to access the COVID-19 in a way that meets their needs?
Incentives and innovative ideas that have worked well for vaccine access.
In this video for homelessness services, Jane Cook talks about the Protect and Vaccinate program that ran from December 2021 to March 2022. She highlights incentive ideas that worked well in different areas and which can be replicated elsewhere to encourage vaccine take-up. Slides from this webinar are available here.
