Demand Creation for COVID-19 Vaccination

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There is an urgent need to create demand in groups that are either uninformed, vaccine hesitant, or actively resistant to COVID-19 vaccination. This study reviews theory, evidence, and practice recommendations to develop a vaccine demand creation strategy that has wide applicability. Specifically, we focus on key elements including supply side confidence, vaccine brand promotion strategy, service marketing as it relates to vaccine distribution, and competition strategy.

Generating acceptance and demand for COVID-19 vaccines

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The WHO has created tools that were designed to respond to these challenges and support planning and implementation for COVID-19 vaccination. They offer practical guidance on a range of areas – from planning, to data gathering and evaluation, to specific strategies for community engagement and managing rumours and misinformation.

How we make decisions during a pandemic

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From mask wearing to physical distancing, individuals wield a lot of power in how the coronavirus outbreak plays out. Behavioral experts reveal what might be prompting people to act — or not.

Charlize Theron takes on new role of fighting COVID vaccine hesitancy and inequality

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Charlize Theron’s organization, “The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project”, is stepping up to help fight vaccine misinformation and inequality that is found in poorer countries like South Africa.

The program has been fighting to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among South Africa’s adolescent population since 2007. She said her organization has been speaking to South African residents who have been hesitant to get the shot because of vaccine misinformation.

New campaign tackles vaccine hesitancy in Baltimore teens

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There’s a new campaign in Baltimore from Johns Hopkins University, using hip hop to build vaccine confidence in the city’s youth because Baltimore City is 20 percent below the state average on vaccinations for teens.

COVID-19: How to respond to vaccine hesitancy

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Initially hindered by low and inconsistent supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, the South African government is now in a somewhat better position to actively campaign and increase vaccine demand, despite being caught in the midst of a viral ‘infodemic’. This article unpacks what can be done to boost demand for the jab.

Behavioral Economics Can Help Fight Coronavirus

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With thousands of newly confirmed cases and deaths worldwide each day, the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, are impacting every corner of the planet. Using behavioral insights to design simple messages that promote healthy behavior is essential to stop contagion, manage emotions, encourage handwashing, and when the time is right, help people gradually resume normal life. This policy note describes behavioral biases people may be exhibiting during the crisis and offers recommendations for how to overcome them. Most importantly, it offers practical examples for governments, as well as infographics ready for dissemination, that can be used to fight this pandemic.

Video-based messages to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and nudge uptake

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We show that brief video-based messages of encouragement addressing specific COVID-19 vaccine concerns increase vaccination intentions. Intentions, in turn, predict future vaccine uptake in our data. Our experiment also reveals that increased confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and perceived behavioral control to get vaccinated are the key psychological drivers influencing willingness to get vaccinated.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: the five Cs to tackle behavioural and sociodemographic factors

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One of the biggest hurdles to COVID-19 vaccinations is hesitancy: a delay in acceptance, or refusal despite availability. We propose five Cs to tackle vaccine hesitancy: Confidence; Complacency; Convenience; Communications; and Context.

How wellness influencers are fueling the anti-vaccine movement

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When the coronavirus vaccines started becoming available and millions of people turned to the Internet to find out more information, many found answers in the wellness groups and networks of influencers that were already a daily part of their social media diet.

And while large accounts specifically known for spreading anti-vaccine messages can be identified and taken down, it’s harder for TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook (which owns Instagram) to police tens of thousands of smaller accounts that might mix in one or two anti-vaccine messages among their normal wellness posts.

Behavioural nudges increase COVID-19 vaccinations

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Enhancing vaccine uptake is a critical public health challenge. Overcoming vaccine hesitancy and failure to follow through on vaccination intentions requires effective communication strategies. Here we present two sequential randomized controlled trials to test the effect of behavioural interventions on the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 outbreak and healthcare worker behavioural change toward hand hygiene practices

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This study used an automated hand hygiene recording system to measure HCW hand hygiene on entry to and exit from patient rooms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The correlation between hand hygiene compliance and COVID-19 epidemiological data was analysed. Analysis of variance was performed to compare compliance rate during the different periods of the epidemic.

Change in Anti-COVID-19 Behavior and Prejudice against Minorities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Evidence from Five European Countries

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In a three-wave longitudinal study in five European countries from April to October 2020, the authors employed a latent change score model to distinguish between intra- and inter-individual changes in anti-COVID-19 behavior and prejudice.

Sustained behavior change is key to preventing and tackling future pandemics

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Investment in research and programs to discover and apply the principles that underpin sustained behavior change is needed to address the continuing threat from COVID-19 and future pandemics and will require collaboration among behavioral, social, biomedical, public-health and clinical scientists.

Community acceptance of COVID-19 and demystifying stigma in a severely affected population in Ghana

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The authors of this study conducted a cross-sectional study to assess stigma among the Tema community, then identified and implemented interventions to demystify COVID-19 stigma. They interviewed positive cases, their contacts, contact tracers, case management team members, and community members who shared their first hand experiences and knowledge on the current pandemic.

Integrating Gender into the COVID-19 Vaccine Response: A Technical Brief

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Many gender-related barriers impact immunization services, including access to, and uptake of, COVID- 19 vaccination. These barriers can include social norms; access to education; ability to make decisions and control resources; health provider attitudes, biases, and preferences; inequitable policies, laws, and regulations; and governance and stakeholder engagement. Failure to address these factors will impede achieving widespread vaccine uptake and greater community protection.

This technical brief focuses on recommendations to integrate gender perspectives in COVID-19 vaccine promotion efforts as part of the overall risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) response.

Malaria Social and Behavior Change during COVID-19

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Malaria SBC programs had to think afresh and re-strategize to tackle new limitations to reach audiences and convince them to change their behaviors to prevent and manage malaria. Malaria SBC workers increased their efforts while also closely following COVID-19 guidelines.

Raising faith in COVID-19 vaccines in Lesotho

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A rapid survey, conducted in July by the World Health Organization (WHO) the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners covering five of Lesotho’s 10 districts showed conspiracy theories may be driving up fear, confusion and reluctance to get vaccinated in this highly religious society.

With support from WHO and the Christian Council of Lesotho, the Ministry of Health is training religious leaders to spread life-saving facts on COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.

Risk Communication and Community Engagement Guidance on COVID-19 Vaccines for Marginalized Populations

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This inter-agency guidance document aims to supplement the COVAX demand creation package for COVID-19 vaccines with key considerations for humanitarian contexts and marginalized populations with specific access and communication needs.

Integración del Género en la Respuesta a la Vacunación Contra la COVID-19: Informe Técnico

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Este informe técnico se centra en las recomendaciones para integrar la perspectiva de género en los esfuerzos de promoción de la vacunación contra la COVID-19 como parte de la respuesta general de comunicación de riesgos y participación comunitaria (CRPC).

Intégration du Genre Dans La Réponse Vaccinale au COVID-19 : Dossier Technique

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Ce dossier technique porte sur les recommandations visant à intégrer la dimension de genre dans les efforts de promotion du vaccin contre le COVID-19, dans le cadre de la réponse globale de communication des risques et d’engagement communautaire (CREC).