COVID-19 vaccine monitoring program limited to English speakers

A text message program designed to track side effects in COVID-19 vaccine recipients is currently only available in English, which could limit the data it is able to collect.

The program, called v-safe, is one way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will follow up with people who take the vaccine. It was rolled out with the first wave of vaccinations last week.

“When you’re talking about technology, literacy and language are usually second tier,” says Jorge Rodriguez, a health technology equity researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Version one is English-speaking, and the Spanish version will come later, the Mandarin version will come later.”

The CDC plans to roll out a Spanish version of v-safe “fairly...

Continue reading…