Experience speaks: The importance of linguistic security during a public health crisis in immigrant and minority-language speakers

Abstract

Linguistic insecurity, as faced by minority-language (ML) and immigrant communities, affects public health across the globe. This literature review addresses challenges faced by immigrants and ML speakers since the start of the SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. These groups sometimes experience obstacles when accessing healthcare, such as language barriers, mistrust in government, and lack of access to healthcare and information. Circulating misinformation may underlie many of the healthcare struggles faced by minorities, making them especially vulnerable to health disparities.We discuss some of the factors that affect immigrant and ML speaker experiences of the public health crisis, which include compliance, perceived support, stressors, vaccine hesitancy and willingness, and anti-expert and conspiratorial thinking. We make recommendations to improve public health through targeted research and linguistic security.