Dr. Naveen Thacker
Message from Course Director
I welcome you all to the IPA Vaccine Trust Course.
Vaccine Hesitancy is one of the major obstacles to achieving immunization targets. No doubt it has posed a serious problem in the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine as well, due to the spread of misinformation surrounding the ongoing pandemic.
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are the cornerstone of public acceptance of vaccination and can play a key role in strengthening trust in immunization systems and ensuring services are appropriate, understood, and accepted. The underlying problem is that most healthcare professionals are not trained in communication approaches to determine the specific concern and then to address them in a collaborative manner that can build trust, pass on standard messages to build vaccine confidence and identify strategies to address vaccine hesitancy, as it was not part of their medical school curriculum or their training. Read More
Vaccine Hesitancy Is the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of recommended vaccines is one of today’s most pressing global health challenges. The World Health Organization (WHO) listed hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019, alongside issues like air pollution and climate change.
With the goal to reduce vaccine hesitancy in communities, disseminate the value of vaccination (VoV), increase demand for immunization, and to help reach the targets of the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), IPA planned the launch Vaccine Hesitancy Project in two phases.
IPA Vaccine Hesitancy Project Phase I:
IPA, with support from UNICEF, International Vaccine Access Centre, and Global Health Strategies, conducted its 1st International Training of Trainers (ToT) in New Delhi and 2nd International Training of Trainers (ToT) in Panama to prepare a pool of Master Trainers who were designated to conduct workshops on Vaccine Hesitancy in their respective countries.
Click here to view detailed reports on the workshops
IPA Vaccine Trust Project Phase II:
The project was renamed as the IPA Vaccine Trust Project for the second phase. Click here to read more about the project
The global force of COVID-19 has brought attention towards vaccine confidence and trust, which is required amongst the community to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Previous outbreaks like Ebola have demonstrated that when health systems are overwhelmed, deaths due to vaccine-preventable and treatable conditions increase dramatically. Hence, there is a need for more efforts to promote demand for vaccines for the children who will miss vaccinations and improve immunization coverage. And to successfully roll-out vaccines against COVID-19 once available, there is a need to ensure that immunization programs remain robust and can reach those that will need these vaccines the most. However, the tidal wave of infodemic (overabundance of information) has made it harder for people to identify trustworthy and reliable sources of information.
In this current situation, the Vaccine Trust Project becomes even more relevant, and our role becomes much more prominent in training healthcare professionals to advocate for recommended vaccinations and increase the demand for vaccines.
In phase II, IPA plans to conduct the following list of activities during the implementation of the project:
1. Online Training on Vaccine Trust Course (Level 1) on IPA Learning Management System.
Course Modules:
Module 1 | Infodemiology
Module 2 | Behavioral Science behind Vaccine Acceptance Interventions
Module 3 | Interpersonal Communication
Module 4 | Social Media Engagement
Module 5 | Dealing with Vocal Vaccine Deniers
Module 6 | Interacting with Media
Module 7 | Building Vaccine Value - Advocacy & Messaging to Effect Change
2. Global Vaccine Trust Leadership Forum – creating a community of practice, where the participants trained in countries will form a global forum. Click here to know more
FUNDING
IPA Vaccine Trust Project Phase II has received funding from Sabin Vaccine Institute under IPA's Vaccine Trust Project – Sabin Vaccine Institute's Immunization Advocates Program collaboration.
IPA Vaccine Trust Project Phase II has received funding from Sanofi Pasteur to support project management and additional activities of the project.