An Interview With Gabby Glass About Her Work on Vaccination Rates Among Navajo in the Light of Historical Trauma and COVID
Gabby Glass (she/her) is a senior in the Kilachand Honors College from Newton, Massachusetts. She studies psychology and public health and hopes to pursue a career in clinical psych / therapy. Over the summer, she studied abroad in London, interning at a nonprofit charity for young girls across England and Wales. The CFD interviewed Gabby about her senior keystone on vaccination rates among Navajo in the light of historical trauma and COVID.
- Tell us about your project at a glance. What is your research question and how is your project structured?
The basis of my project is that during the pandemic Native populations were hit the hardest by COVID, so they were twice as likely to die from COVID compared to their white counterparts. But in 2021 when vaccine rollout started to happen, native populations had the highest vaccination rates out of any racial group. That led me to my research question, thinking about what factors lead to these rates. Specifically, I was looking at the Navajo tribe which is in the Southwestern US, because they’ve had some of the highest vaccination rates out of indigenous tribes. They are also the largest federally recognized tribe, so there’s a lot more data than other groups. So my overall research question right now (and it’s changed a lot) is, what are the factors that have led to such outstanding rates of COVID vaccination among Navajo communities, and looking at that within the historical context of healthcare access. I am also asking whether this response is unique to COVID or if this is a trend we haven’t been recognizing and bringing attention to that.
- Have you found anything so far in your research?
There are a lot of factors that go into it. Dr. Zaman and I have started talking to some people who have worked in Navajo communities. I am going to speak with some Tribal members in the next few weeks which is exciting. Some of the factors that we’ve found are that vaccine distribution is largely tribal run: the US basically said to all indigenous tribes, “You can either control this vaccine distribution yourself or we can do it for you” and many tribes elected to do it themselves. This is a big thing especially in Navajo communities because the death rate was so high; [tribal members] know multiple people who have died from COVID so there is a personal connection. I would also say there is an indigenous collectivist culture where [tribal members] feel a responsibility to protect [their] community and protect the elders in [their] community. Navajo community members actually participated in some of the vaccine trials so that helped to build trust within community members, but what’s really interesting – and this is what Dr. Zaman and I have been talking about the past few weeks – is that my initial perception was that there would be a lot of vaccine hesitancy, and that’s why I thought this topic was so interesting. I thought that because indigenous people in this country have been treated horribly and have had horrible relationships with the US government and healthcare officials it’s really valid that they would have this vaccine hesitancy, but what I found is that there actually isn’t as much vaccine hesitancy as I first assumed. My research question is now becoming, why did I have these assumptions in the beginning and how can we challenge them?
- What drove you to this research topic? What sparked your interest?
It started with what I was talking about with vaccine hesitancy. I’m studying public health, and I am really interested in why people might not trust the COVID vaccine for pretty valid reasons; I am really interested in this idea of trust in healthcare and how you build trust, especially when it has been broken constantly. I took a class (KHC302) on forced displacement and my focus area was on indigenous peoples in the US, and so my mind instantly went there. The project evolved from there: I did a bit of research and realized that the vaccination rates were actually so high.
- What are the implications of this project? What is the importance it will have going forward?
I think we are still figuring that out, and it’s going to change and evolve as the paper evolves, but I think that first and foremost it’s so important to bring this conversation especially to BU. When I was doing my initial research I found that there are no professors at BU who specialize in indigenous health, so I think first just bringing this conversation to the table. And then I think it could have some policy implications when we’re looking at future vaccination campaigns in other communities: what has succeeded here and how can we bring that to other communities? Overall just really understanding the “why” behind these rates.
- Do you see any ramifications or impacts of this topic on other aspects of indigenous life beyond public health?
I think that it has built trust especially in collaboration of indigenous health services and specific Tribal health departments. I think that a specific example is that because of COVID a lot of traditional celebrations had to be put on pause, so I think that affected populations culturally and with these high vaccination rates these events are being opened up again, and sometimes that was an incentive to get vaccinated.
- Is there anything we haven’t asked that you would like to highlight?
I’d like to highlight what I already said about my assumptions changing. I think that’s been the most important lesson that I’ve learned so far in that my assumptions weren’t necessarily coming from an incorrect place in that native peoples have had their trust broken by health officials and the US government multiple times, but I haven’t gone through these experiences and I am approaching this knowing nothings, and my assumptions have been proven completely wrong. I think it’s so interesting that through this research process it’s changed so much.