The public's role in COVID-19 vaccination: Human-centered recommendations to enhance pandemic vaccine awareness, access, and acceptance in the United States

Monica Schoch-Spana; Emily K Brunson; Rex Long; Alexandra Ruth; Sanjana J Ravi; Marc Trotochaud; Luciana Borio; Janesse Brewer; Joseph Buccina; Nancy Connell; Laura Lee Hall; Nancy Kass; Anna Kirkland; Lisa Koonin; Heidi Larson; Brooke Fisher Lu; Saad B Omer; Walter A Orenstein; Gregory A Poland; Lois Privor-Dumm; Sandra Crouse Quinn; Daniel Salmon; Alexandre White

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.10.059

The public's role in COVID-19 vaccination: Human-centered recommendations to enhance pandemic vaccine awareness, access, and acceptance in the United States

Vaccine. 2021 Sep 24;39(40):6004-6012. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.10.059. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

Authors

Monica Schoch-Spana¹, Emily K Brunson², Rex Long², Alexandra Ruth³, Sanjana J Ravi⁴, Marc Trotochaud⁴, Luciana Borio⁵, Janesse Brewer⁶, Joseph Buccina⁵, Nancy Connell⁴, Laura Lee Hall⁷, Nancy Kass⁸, Anna Kirkland⁹, Lisa Koonin¹⁰, Heidi Larson¹¹, Brooke Fisher Lu¹², Saad B Omer¹³, Walter A Orenstein¹⁴, Gregory A Poland¹⁵, Lois Privor-Dumm¹⁶, Sandra Crouse Quinn¹⁷, Daniel Salmon¹⁸, Alexandre White¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Baltimore, MD, USA; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: mschoch1@jhu.edu.
² Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
³ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Baltimore, MD, USA; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ In-Q-Tel, Arlington, VA, USA.
⁶ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁷ Center for Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁹ Department of Women's and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁰ Health Preparedness Partners, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹² Department of Communication, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹³ Yale Institute for Global Health, New Haven, CT, USA; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹⁴ Emory Vaccine Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹⁵ Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹⁶ International Vaccine Access Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁷ University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁸ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Vaccine Safety, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁹ Department of The History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

Given the social and economic upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders, health officials, and members of the public are eager for solutions. One of the most promising, if they can be successfully developed, is vaccines. While the technological development of such countermeasures is currently underway, a key social gap remains. Past experience in routine and crisis contexts demonstrates that uptake of vaccines is more complicated than simply making the technology available. Vaccine uptake, and especially the widespread acceptance of vaccines, is a social endeavor that requires consideration of human factors. To provide a starting place for this critical component of a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States, the 23-person Working Group on Readying Populations for COVID-19 Vaccines was formed. One outcome of this group is a synthesis of the major challenges and opportunities associated with a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign and empirically-informed recommendations to advance public understanding of, access to, and acceptance of vaccines that protect against SARS-CoV-2. While not inclusive of all possible steps than could or should be done to facilitate COVID-19 vaccination, the working group believes that the recommendations provided are essential for a successful vaccination program.

Keywords: COVID-19; Community engagement; Epidemic management/response; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccine confidence; Vaccine uptake.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics / prevention & control
SARS-CoV-2
United States
Vaccination
Vaccines*

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
Vaccines

Grants and funding

UL1 TR001863/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States