Communicating COVID-19 Media, Trust, and Public Engagement

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  • Examines global communication experiences in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Explores media’s role in health, politics, technology, society, and culture during COVID-19
  • Offers interdisciplinary insights from media studies, journalism, public health, and strategic communication

Breakthrough ACTION contributed three chapters that analyze stigma’s impact on COVID-19 communication, a multi-channel approach to debunk rumors, and the role of celebrities and religious figures in dispelling COVID-19 myths. While these chapters are based on Breakthrough ACTION’s COVID-19 work, the findings can have implications for risk communication and community engagement efforts more generally.

 

Source: Communicating COVID-19 – Media, Trust, and Public Engagement

Views 202

COVID-19 Vaccination Series – FAQ (What are the risks of getting a booster?)

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This is a video on a frequently asked question on COVID-19 vaccination, “What are the risks of getting a booster?”.

This video was published by the Ministry of Health – Guyana.

Watch the video here.

Views 561

“Community Members Have More Impact on Their Neighbors than Celebrities”: Leveraging Community Partnerships to Build COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

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Vaccines are a strong public health tool to protect against severe disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. Still, inequities in COVID-19 vaccination rates and health outcomes continue to exist among Black and Latino populations. Boston Medical Center (BMC) has played a significant role in vaccinating medically underserved populations, and organized a series of community-engaged conversations to better understand community concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. This paper describes the themes which resulted from these community-engaged conversations and proposes next steps for healthcare leaders.

 

View the resource here.

Views 172

The Little Jab Book: A Playbook for COVID-19 Vaccination in Papua New Guinea

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COVID-19 has had significant economic and health impacts around the world. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), COVID-19 has led to 669 confirmed deaths and 46,663 cases from January 3, 2020 to January 25, 2023. To minimize the number of infections, the short and long-term negative health effects, and the number of deaths due to COVID-19, a global vaccination roll-out is imperative, making the vaccines the number one measure to combat this pandemic. Inspired by the Little Jab book series, this book begins with a look into the most important vaccine uptake problems in PNG and highlights interventions to overcome these problems. It includes 12 recommended behavioral science interventions for adults living in urban or rural PNG.

View the resource here.

Views 179

Video about Training on Vaccine Misinformation

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This video summarizes the Training held in Mozambique on Vaccine Misinformation. This training organized by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication was conducted by Emile Miller, an associate researcher at JHU based in the United States, and was attended by the Ministry of Health’s expanded vaccination program and its implementing partners.

 

Watch the video here.

Views 71

Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Botswana Through Community Outreach and Door-to-Door Vaccination

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Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC), a five-year global project funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is dedicated to addressing the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics. In Botswana, EpiC is led by FHI360 with core partners Right to Care (RTC), Palladium, and Population Services International (PSI). EpiC was modified in early 2020 to include funding to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19 by supporting the Ministry of Health to bolster health systems to address the pandemic.

To address low vaccine uptake among youth and the general population in the year 2022, EpiC rolled out intensive community mobilization. The project collaborated closely with District Health Management Teams (DHMTs), local community structures, and district-level leadership to rapidly increase vaccination uptake.

This resource is a success story that outlines the strategy that was employed to roll out vaccines at the community level.

Source: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Botswana Through Community Outreach and Door-to-Door Vaccination

Views 875

Promoting Vaccination in India through Videos: The Role of Humor, Collectivistic Appeal and Gender

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Vaccination hesitancy is a barrier to India’s efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Considerable resources have been spent to promote COVID-19 vaccination, but evaluations of such efforts are sparse. Our objective was to determine how vaccine videos that manipulate message appeal (collectivistic versus individualistic), tone (humorous versus serious), and source (male versus female protagonist) toward vaccines and vaccination. We developed eight videos that manipulated the type of appeal (collectivistic or individualistic), tone of the message (humor or serious), and gender of the vaccine promoter (male or female) in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects experiment. Participants (N = 2349) were randomly assigned to watch one of eight videos in an online experiment. Beliefs about vaccines and those about vaccination were obtained before and after viewing the video. Manipulation checks demonstrated that each of the three independent variables was manipulated successfully. After exposure to the video, beliefs about vaccines became more negative, while beliefs about vaccination became more positive. Humor reduced negative beliefs about vaccines. Collectivism and protagonist gender did not affect beliefs about vaccines or vaccination. Those able to remember the protagonist’s gender (a measure of attention) were likely to develop favorable beliefs if they had also seen the humorous videos. These findings suggest that people distinguish beliefs about vaccines, which deteriorated after exposure to the videos, from beliefs about vaccination, which improved. We recommend using humor when appropriate and focusing on the outcomes of vaccination, rather than on the vaccines themselves.

Source: Promoting Vaccination in India through Videos: The Role of Humor, Collectivistic Appeal and Gender

Views 671

Rumor Tracking and Infodemic Management in Public Health Emergencies

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The overabundance of health information—including rumors and misinformation on and offline—has been a growing challenge across the world. This situation, called an infodemic, requires public health officials and health providers to work even harder to provide the public with accurate, up-to-date information.

This course is intended for risk communication and community engagement program implementers and other professionals working to identify and respond to emerging rumors. It offers an overview of the theory and practice of creating an infodemic management system, including step-by-step instructions, case studies, and links to additional tools. Participants will learn key definitions, consider how to conduct an infodemic landscaping analysis, and select sources of rumor data. The course modules also cover a variety of analysis techniques, strategies for addressing misinformation, and considerations for monitoring and evaluating infodemic management efforts.

Views 611

The Prevalence, Features, Influencing Factors, and Solutions for COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: Systematic Review

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, infodemic spread even more rapidly than the pandemic itself. The COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been prevalent worldwide and hindered pandemic exiting strategies. Misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines is a vital contributor to vaccine hesitancy. However, no evidence systematically summarized COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

This review aims to synthesize the global evidence on misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines, including its prevalence, features, influencing factors, impacts, and solutions for combating misinformation.

Source: The Prevalence, Features, Influencing Factors, and Solutions for COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: Systematic Review

Views 647