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

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...

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Veröffentlicht in:Vaccines (Basel) 2023-06, Vol.11 (7), p.1180
Hauptverfasser: Hopkins, Kathryn L, Underwood, Talya, Iddrisu, Iddi, Woldemeskel, Hanna, Bon, Helena Ballester, Brouwers, Symen, De Almeida, Sofia, Fol, Natalie, Malhotra, Alka, Prasad, Shalini, Bharadwaj, Sowmyaa, Bhatnagar, Aarunima, Knobler, Stacey, Lihemo, Gloria
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung: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.
ISSN:2076-393X
2076-393X
DOI:10.3390/vaccines11071180