PAHO launches new web pages to help countries increase vaccine demand
PAHO has launched two web pages with resources to help countries improve their communication about vaccination and increase demand for vaccines. The two pages are part of the Immunization Toolkit under the “Social communication and demand generation” tab, available here.
The first page, “Behavioral science: Vaccine demand and confidence,” explains why immunization programs must go beyond simply telling people to get vaccinated and instead collect data on the Behavioral and Social Drivers of Vaccination (BeSD) to understand the root causes of low vaccine uptake and develop and implement evidence-based strategies to address them.
The second page, “Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE)/Social communication,” offers users information on how to use RCCE principles and tools to increase public trust in immunization programs, given that in the absence of clear communication, rumors about the risks of vaccination, distrust in the immunization program, and refusal or hesitancy to get vaccinated can flourish.
This page includes an explanation of how the WHO Strategic Communications Framework’s principles of RCCE applies to vaccination, how false information about vaccination can be managed using pre-bunking and debunking, information on communicating about the risks of vaccination, and the importance of considering health workers as a critical audience for RCCE initiatives. There are also links to vaccination-specific RCCE resources for both the general public and health workers, including materials like Communicating about Vaccination-related Risks and Crisis communication related to vaccine safety: technical guidance, as well as free courses on the PAHO virtual campus like Communication on vaccine safety: Guidance to support Health Care Workers.
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Author: Silva Octavia , Specialist on Publications (PAHO)