Every year, preventable illnesses harm migrant farmworkers because they have not had routine vaccines. Illnesses like tetanus, meningitis, COVID-19, and the flu can be prevented, or their severity can be greatly reduced, by making vaccines more accessible for farmworkers and by helping to inform them of the lifesaving benefits of vaccination.

This Farmworker Awareness Week, MCN has released two new culturally contextual Spanish- and English-language resources designed for adult farmworkers. Our vaccine comic book, “Adults Get Vaccinated Too!” follows two farmworkers discussing the importance of protecting yourself from disease, exploring the symptoms of preventable illnesses, and the benefits farmworkers can expect from getting needed vaccinations. It also clarifies when and where doses of a specific vaccine need to be taken. The comic book is a complement to our newly updated “Adults Get Vaccinated Too!” calendar, which contains much of the same information in a large, easy-to-read poster.
 

These new and updated resources help community health workers/promotores (CHW/Ps) in the field talk with farmworkers about the benefits of preventative care and the schedule of vaccinations a worker might need. Farmworkers face barriers to care, such as clinic inaccessibility, lack of insurance, and lack of transportation. Health literacy is another barrier. When migrant workers do not speak English or read their native language, pictographic materials are a necessary and effective tool for clinicians and health care providers to ensure public health messages are communicated.

MCN designed these resources with Spanish-speaking, male farmworker populations in mind, addressing common concerns and barriers to care migrant farmworkers face. The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health showed that Latino adults were 30% less likely to have received the influenza, hepatitis, and pneumonia vaccines compared to non-Latino whites, according to a 2020 study from V. Nelly Salgado de Snyder, a Senior Research Scientist at The University of Texas at Austin, in conjunction with MCN. Latino populations have some of the lowest vaccination rates compared to other races/ethnicities residing in the United States, making it critical that our Spanish-language materials target the concerns of these populations, appealing to their interests and needs. Given that in 2019, 97% of all H2-A visa holders (migrant agricultural workers), were male, we approached this new resource with this male migrant farmworker audience in mind.
 

The calendar was initially developed with input from focus groups conducted in Mexico in 2006 among indigenous communities that migrate to the US for work. The original version of the calendar was developed in 2007 with CDC funds in Spanish only, and over the years has been updated to include new concerns, like COVID-19. The new edition adds a comic book to communicate why vaccines are important. All materials have been translated into English to be used with English-speaking farmworker populations.

The new comic book and the 2024 Spanish Calendar were made possible with funding from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). This is the first time we have translated the calendar into English, which we believe will make the posters more accessible and easier to use for clinicians including CHW/Ps. The newest versions are a vital tool for community health centers, clinicians, community health workers, and immigrant and migrant communities.

“These educational materials are a good example of effective practices when developing educational materials,” MCN’s Alma Galván, MHC, said. “MCN creates materials in the original language of the target population. We do not just translate existing materials -- we take the main concepts, language, and context and create materials from scratch with feedback from the intended audience.”

These resources are free for download and distribution. Download our “Adults Get Vaccinated Too” calendar and comic book today!