For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Leezel Tanglao
May 30, 2022
FYLPRO’s Tayo Launches Nationwide Survey on FIlipino Attitudes Towards Vaccination
The Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO), through its Tayo project, announces the launch of a nationwide survey to document attitudes surrounding vaccination in the Filipinx/a/o community.
The MAGPABAKUNA na Tayo (“Measuring and Gathering data on Pilipino/a/x American Behaviors, Attitudes, and Knowledge Understanding the Novel CoronAvirus vaccines”) study is a 20-minute survey that will be conducted online and via telephone by Tayo and community partners the Council of Young Filipinx Americans in Medicine (CYFAM). The survey is available in English and Filipino and open to all Filipino Americans aged 18 and above – regardless of whether they have received the COVID-19 vaccine or not.
Led by Tayo medical advisor Dr. Melissa Palma, a board certified preventive medicine and public health physician in Chicago, IL, the survey team includes CYFAM members Abigail Ahyong, Giana Apoderado, Neille John Apostol, Siegried Chen, Diana Del Rosario, Sheena Garcia, Samantha Sumait, Matthew Roces, Mericien Venzon, and Megan Yee, with additional support provided by FYLPRO board members and Tayo core leaders Mark Calaguas, Jobel Vecino and Leezel Tanglao.
In furtherance of Tayo’s recently adopted strategic plan, the survey seeks to not only improve data collection on Filipino Americans specifically, but also assist in the disaggregation of data on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities at large. The longstanding practice of aggregating socioeconomic, public health, and other data under one broad AAPI category oftentimes obscures pernicious inequalities at the individual ethnic community level.
Although Filipinos have emerged as the second largest Asian American ethnic group in the United States, FilAms are vastly underrepresented in medical research. “Despite making up over 6% of the US population, less than 0.2% of the National Institutes of Health budget is dedicated to studying the health of Asian American populations,” stated Dr. Palma. “Often times academic researchers label immigrant groups like Filipinos as ‘hard to reach,’ but in my experience it’s often that they aren’t sending the right people to ask and engage with us,” she continued.
“This survey is vitally important to improve collection of data about us as a community,” said Leezel Tanglao, FYLPRO president and Tayo project director. “The lack of disaggregated data has made it difficult to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on the Filipino community. This is the first step in better telling our story.”
The survey, which is generously supported by a grant from the CDC Foundation, can be accessed at redcap.link/FYLPROTayoSurvey. Analysis of results is expected in late fall 2022.
For more information about the survey, visit: https://bit.ly/TayoVaccineSurveyInfo
About Tayo
Tayo, a project of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO), is an innovative data hub that empowers Filipinx/a/o communities by collecting data, fostering partnerships, publishing culturally relevant insights, and developing leaders to create an equitable and sustainable future.
For more information, visit tayohelp.com.
About Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO)
FILIPINO YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM (FYLPRO) is a network of high performing, next-generation leaders who advance the Philippines and the Filipino people through their advocacy and expertise in various industries.
We continually expand the pipeline of Filipino young leaders in the diaspora. By connecting them to the motherland, we foster collaborative multinational relationships that create innovations and support the socio-economic progress of the global Filipino community.
For more information, visit fylpro.org.
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