Community-Based Approaches to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Demand: Lessons Learned from Four UNICEF-Supported Interventions

Author:

Hopkins Kathryn L.1,Underwood Talya2,Iddrisu Iddi3,Woldemeskel Hanna4,Bon Helena Ballester5,Brouwers Symen5,De Almeida Sofia5,Fol Natalie5,Malhotra Alka6,Prasad Shalini6,Bharadwaj Sowmyaa7,Bhatnagar Aarunima8,Knobler Stacey1,Lihemo Gloria9

Affiliation:

1. Sabin Vaccine Institute, Washington, DC 20037, USA

2. Sabin Vaccine Institute, Northwich CW9 7DA, UK

3. UNICEF Ghana Country Office, Accra-North P.O. Box 5051, Ghana

4. UNICEF Zambia Country Office, Lusaka P.O. Box 33610, Zambia

5. UNICEF Regional Office for East and Southern Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 44145, Kenya

6. UNICEF India Country Office, New Delhi 110 003, India

7. Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices, New Delhi 110 016, India

8. UNICEF Iraq Country Office, Baghdad 10011, Iraq

9. UNICEF HQ, New York, NY 10017, USA

Abstract

Vaccination is critical to minimize serious illness and death from COVID-19. Yet uptake of COVID-19 vaccines remains highly variable, particularly among marginalized communities. This article shares lessons learned from four UNICEF interventions that supported Governments to generate acceptance and demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Zambia, Iraq, Ghana, and India. In Zambia, community rapid assessment provided invaluable real-time insights around COVID-19 vaccination and allowed the identification of population segments that share beliefs and motivations regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Findings were subsequently used to develop recommendations tailored to the different personas. In Iraq, a new outreach approach (3iS: Intensification of Integrated Immunization) utilized direct community engagement to deliver health messages and encourage service uptake, resulting in over 4.4 million doses of COVID-19 and routine immunization vaccines delivered in just 8 months. In Ghana, a human-centered design initiative was applied to co-develop community-informed strategies to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates. In India, a risk communication and community engagement initiative reached half a million people over six months, translating into a 25% increase in vaccination rates. These shared approaches can be leveraged to improve COVID-19 vaccination coverage and close gaps in routine immunization across diverse and marginalized communities.

Funder

UNICEF’s Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, Humanitarian Action for Children fund

GAVI, the vaccine alliance vaccine confidence

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Pharmacology (medical),Infectious Diseases,Drug Discovery,Pharmacology,Immunology

Reference25 articles.

1. Our World in Data (2023, April 10). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations. Available online: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations.

2. UNICEF (2022, December 05). COVID-19 Pandemic Fuels Largest Continued Backslide in Vaccinations in Three Decades. Available online: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/WUENIC2022release.

3. UNICEF (2023, May 30). The State of the World’s Children 2023. Available online: https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2023.

4. Infodemics and health misinformation: A systematic review of reviews;Pizarro;Bull. World Health Organ.,2022

5. The impact of misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic;Sosa;AIMS Public Health,2022

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