Long-Term Care Facility Toolkit: Preparing for COVID-19 Vaccination at Your Facility

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This toolkit provides long-term care facility (LTCF) administrators and clinical leadership with information and resources to help build vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel (HCP) and residents.

The toolkit emphasizes the critical role played by health professionals in providing trusted information and ensuring high COVID-19 vaccination coverage in their facility.

Source: Long-Term Care Facility Toolkit: Preparing for COVID-19 Vaccination at Your Facility

    Views 640

    The Best Evidence for How to Overcome COVID Vaccine Fears

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    Now that the COVID-19 vaccine is becoming available, somewhere between 60 and 90 percent of adults and children must be vaccinated or have antibodies resulting from infection in order to arrive at the safe harbor known as herd immunity, where the whole community is protected.

    However, among the US population, there are large segments that remain reluctant or opposed to receiving the vaccines. In the Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 42 percent of Republicans said they definitely or probably would not. The same was true for 35 percent of Black adults, who, as a group, have borne a disproportionate share of sickness and death from COVID-19. Also deeply hesitant were 35 percent of rural residents, 36 percent of adults ages 30 to 49, and—especially worrisome given their public-facing roles—33 percent of essential workers and 29 percent of those who work in a health care delivery setting.

    For the reluctant and distrustful, it will take targeted actions and communication strategies that speak to the specific concerns of each group to move them toward accepting the new vaccines. This article describes several approaches to reach those audiences.

    Source: The Best Evidence for How to Overcome COVID Vaccine Fears

      Views 954

      Inside the Mind of an Anti-vaxxer

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      This article describes the attitude of the many individuals in the US who are against vaccination and details steps that can be taken to change their attitudes and behavior.

      The various options of changing people’s attitudes toward vaccinations are discussed.

      Source: Inside the Mind of an Anti-vaxxer

        Views 599

        COVID-19: Can Behavior Insights Address Vaccine Hesitancy and Increase Take-up?

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        In efforts to reduce infections by COVID-19, effective vaccines will only contribute to herd immunity if people accept them and follow the correct vaccination course. The take-up rate is a crucial variable to consider in the quest to achieve herd immunity.

        For instance, with a 90% effective vaccine, we need a 77.7% take-up rate if the herd immunity threshold is 70%. Currently, the picture is mixed: in a global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine, positive responses ranged from 55% in Russia to 87% in China. In September 2020, a Pew survey suggested that 49% of American adults would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine.

        The behavioral science literature suggests the importance of understanding the underlying drivers of vaccine decision-making. Countries should design their strategies for vaccine take-up to target these factors, including the perceived risk of disease and side effects, social norms, costs in terms of time and effort, and trust in the health system and government. Behavior science offers options that go beyond traditional behavior change campaigns.

        Source: COVID-19: Can Behavior Insights Address Vaccine Hesitancy and Increase Take-up?

          Views 491

          Tips for Professional Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccines

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          Journalists play a vital role in informing the public on science, specifically vaccine, developments, in an unprecedented period of scientific publishing.

          The situation is constantly evolving but there are some general guidelines that should be followed whenever possible:

          • Don’t just report the topline
          • Don’t trust data automatically
          • Use trusted and reliable sources
          • State the source
          • Define the terms
          • Use clear language
          • Explain the stage
          • Report the numbers
          • Disclose the side effects
          • Use appropriate imagery
          • Don’t forget demographics
          • Remind everyone of the benefits of vaccines

          Tackle vaccine hesitancy by reporting facts and figures on vaccine efficacy in ending epidemics throughout history.

          Source: Tips for Professional Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccines

            Views 562

            Vaccine Confidence Project

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            This site serves as a collection of resources from around the world that can be used to gain further information about vaccines and their recommended usage.

            The purpose of the Vaccine Confidence Project is to monitor public confidence in immunization programs by building an information surveillance system for early detection of public concerns around vaccines; by applying a diagnostic tool to data collected to determine the risk level of public concerns in terms of their potential to disrupt vaccine programmes; and, finally, to provide analysis and guidance for early response and engagement with the public to ensure sustained confidence in vaccines and immunisation.

            This initiative also defines a Vaccine Confidence Index™ (VCI) as a tool for mapping confidence globally.

            Source: Vaccine Confidence Project

              Views 791

              Vaccination Communication Strategies: What Have We Learned, and Lost, in 200 Years?

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              This study compares Australian government vaccination campaigns from two very different time periods, the early nineteenth century (1803–24) and the early twenty-first (2016).

              It explores the modes of rhetoric and frames that government officials used in each period to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. The analysis shows that modern campaigns rely primarily on scientific fact, whereas 200 years ago personal stories and emotional appeals were more common. The authors argue that a return to the old ways may be needed to address vaccine hesitancy around the world.

              Source: Vaccination Communication Strategies: What Have We Learned, and Lost, in 200 Years?

                Views 741

                COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor

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                The Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor is an ongoing research project tracking the American public’s attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations.

                Using a combination of surveys and focus groups, this project will track the dynamic nature of public opinion as vaccine development unfolds, including vaccine confidence and hesitancy, trusted messengers and messages, as well as the public’s experiences with vaccination as distribution begins.

                Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor

                  Views 868

                  Framework for Decision-making: Implementation of Mass Vaccination Campaigns in the Context of COVID-19

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                  This document describes the principles to consider when deliberating the implementation of mass vaccination campaigns for prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases and high impact diseases (VPD/HID), and when assessing risks and benefits of conducting outbreak-response vaccination campaigns to respond to VPD/HID outbreaks.

                  Source: Framework for Decision-making: Implementation of Mass Vaccination Campaigns in the Context of COVID-19

                    Views 605

                    Social Media and Vaccine Hesitancy

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                    The authors globally evaluate the effect of social media and online foreign disinformation campaigns on vaccination rates and attitudes towards vaccine safety.

                    The study found that the use of social media to organise offline action is highly predictive of the belief that vaccinations are unsafe, with such beliefs mounting as more organization occurs on social media. In addition, the prevalence of foreign disinformation is highly statistically and substantively significant in predicting a drop in mean vaccination coverage over time.

                    Source: Social Media and Vaccine Hesitancy

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