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The Confidence Project

The Project

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on the health, social and economic well-being of people in Canada and around the world. It has led to many significant changes in our daily lives.

Vaccinating the Canadian population with safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is essential for fully re-opening the Canadian economy and a return to “normalcy”.

Ensuring all Canadians have access to evidenced-based information on the importance of vaccination is a challenging yet crucial goal. Many Canadians, including those historically underserved and marginalized by public health services, and those negatively affected by a range of social determinants of health (SDOH) including gender, ethnicity, occupation, homelessness, and incarceration, may require additional support to help them understand, have confidence in, and receive available vaccines.

Additionally, vaccine hesitancy and the spread of misinformation concerning COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general remains a significant challenge to the national vaccination efforts underway. Instilling confidence in COVID-19 vaccines can be particularly challenging given the spread of misinformation related to these vaccines. Engendering trust, confidence and acceptance requires innovative approaches.

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign is the largest mass vaccination campaign ever undertaken. As such, it presents an opportunity to identify and address longstanding systemic barriers to vaccination – including acceptance and uptake of vaccines beyond those that prevent COVID-19. New and reimagined interventions are required to develop or expand tools, education, and supports for healthcare providers as well as strategies and resources to support community-driven solutions. There is no “one size fits all” solution, and a multifaceted approach, grounded in Canada’s diversity, is crucial for reaching all Canadians.

Our overarching goal is to address vaccine hesitancy among pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians, especially those belonging to marginalized, racialized and Indigenous groups.

Our specific objectives include:

  1. Public engagement to modify and disseminate a decision-aid addressing vaccine hesitancy
  2. Evaluating the impact of the decision aid on vaccine hesitancy, stratified by regions and demographic characteristics, and determining how vaccine hesitancy changes over time.
  3. Identifying sources of trusted information regarding vaccine safety as well as barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake among pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians.
  4. Providing a framework for addressing these challenges through educational material, videos, webinars and other methods that have been used in other populations.
  5. Establishing networks between national organizations, provincial leaders and community proxies for rapid dissemination of evidence to pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians.

Overview

Supporting Canadians’ vaccine confidence and uptake, as well as addressing barriers to accessing vaccination, requires diverse strategies and targeted interventions. There is no “one size fits all” solution, and a multifaceted approach is crucial for reaching all Canadians, and particularly Canadians who historically have been underserved and whose health negatively impacted by a range of social determinants of health.

Expandable List

Specifically, by ensuring that HCPs have the tools, training and evidence-based information they need to promote and counsel individuals on the importance of COVID 19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes developing resources for HCPs such as informational products for their patients on vaccine ingredients, vaccine safety and efficacy, and descriptions of priority populations explaining the increased risks to these populations.

The project enhances community-based and front-line service capacity thereby improving demand for and access to COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes developing or tailoring evidence-based strategies for Canadians, with a particular emphasis on underserved or marginalized populations to improve knowledge about the importance of vaccination, build confidence in vaccines, and address barriers to accessing vaccination services.

The project supports organizations to develop and implement communications and public engagement strategies to foster evidence-based dialogue around vaccines. This includes developing information tools, publications and media briefings intended to increase vaccine confidence.

The Project

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on the health, social and economic well-being of people in Canada and around the world. It has led to many significant changes in our daily lives.

Vaccinating the Canadian population with safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is essential for fully re-opening the Canadian economy and a return to “normalcy”.

Ensuring all Canadians have access to evidenced-based information on the importance of vaccination is a challenging yet crucial goal. Many Canadians, including those historically underserved and marginalized by public health services, and those negatively affected by a range of social determinants of health (SDOH) including gender, ethnicity, occupation, homelessness, and incarceration, may require additional support to help them understand, have confidence in, and receive available vaccines.

Additionally, vaccine hesitancy and the spread of misinformation concerning COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general remains a significant challenge to the national vaccination efforts underway. Instilling confidence in COVID-19 vaccines can be particularly challenging given the spread of misinformation related to these vaccines. Engendering trust, confidence and acceptance requires innovative approaches.

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign is the largest mass vaccination campaign ever undertaken. As such, it presents an opportunity to identify and address longstanding systemic barriers to vaccination – including acceptance and uptake of vaccines beyond those that prevent COVID-19. New and reimagined interventions are required to develop or expand tools, education, and supports for healthcare providers as well as strategies and resources to support community-driven solutions. There is no “one size fits all” solution, and a multifaceted approach, grounded in Canada’s diversity, is crucial for reaching all Canadians.

Our overarching goal is to address vaccine hesitancy among pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians, especially those belonging to marginalized, racialized and Indigenous groups.

Our specific objectives include:

  1. Public engagement to modify and disseminate a decision-aid addressing vaccine hesitancy
  2. Evaluating the impact of the decision aid on vaccine hesitancy, stratified by regions and demographic characteristics, and determining how vaccine hesitancy changes over time.
  3. Identifying sources of trusted information regarding vaccine safety as well as barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake among pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians.
  4. Providing a framework for addressing these challenges through educational material, videos, webinars and other methods that have been used in other populations.
  5. Establishing networks between national organizations, provincial leaders and community proxies for rapid dissemination of evidence to pregnant and breastfeeding Canadians.

Supporting Canadians’ vaccine confidence and uptake, as well as addressing barriers to accessing vaccination, requires diverse strategies and targeted interventions. There is no “one size fits all” solution, and a multifaceted approach is crucial for reaching all Canadians, and particularly Canadians who historically have been underserved and whose health negatively impacted by a range of social determinants of health.

Expandable List

Specifically, by ensuring that HCPs have the tools, training and evidence-based information they need to promote and counsel individuals on the importance of COVID 19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes developing resources for HCPs such as informational products for their patients on vaccine ingredients, vaccine safety and efficacy, and descriptions of priority populations explaining the increased risks to these populations.

The project enhances community-based and front-line service capacity thereby improving demand for and access to COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes developing or tailoring evidence-based strategies for Canadians, with a particular emphasis on underserved or marginalized populations to improve knowledge about the importance of vaccination, build confidence in vaccines, and address barriers to accessing vaccination services.

The project supports organizations to develop and implement communications and public engagement strategies to foster evidence-based dialogue around vaccines. This includes developing information tools, publications and media briefings intended to increase vaccine confidence.

News

ATN Interview with Sabina Vohra-Miller, South Asian Health Network

Meet Sabina Vohra-Miller, the founder of Unambiguous Science. Sabina has partnered with Health Nexus as a Community Ambassador for The Confidence Project. Press play to watch Sabina Vohra-Miller’s interview about vaccine hesitancy in the South Asian community.

 

COVERED: Fall Booster Recruitment Push

Who we are 

The COVERED registry was designed as a Pan-Canadian project with collaborators in every province and territory. The project is led by Dr. Deborah Money and her Reproductive Infectious Diseases (RID) research team at the BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. Key physicians and researchers across Canada have worked together to create this registry to learn about your experience when receiving a COVID-19 vaccination while pregnant or lactating. Our aim is to report our data to inform safe vaccine recommendations for those that are pregnant and lactating. 

Intro to COVERED 

We are seeking individuals that have been pregnant or were lactating during the COVID-19 pandemic to take part in the COVID-19 Vaccine Registry for Pregnant and Lactating Individuals (COVERED). Participants do not have to have already received a COVID-19 vaccine, nor do they need to intend to receive the vaccine. Participants will answer questions about their attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine, their health experiences and their pregnancy outcomes. As we move into the fall/winter of 2022 we are hoping to learn about your experience if you received a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine and/or an influenza vaccine. 

Purpose of Study 

This is a national registry of unvaccinated and vaccinated pregnant and lactating individuals. We are conducting this research to improve our understanding of vaccine safety and how well the vaccines protect against COVID-19. 

Click the link below to find the Q&A about Bivalent Vaccines and Pregnancy provided by Dr. Deborah Money, a professor in UBC’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology.

Bivalent vaccines and pregnancy (Deborah Money)

Links to website and consent form 

Website: https://covered.med.ubc.ca/ 

Consent form: https://rc.bcchr.ca/redcap/surveys/?s=DFD33LDRWFR73K9W 

Additional Links: 

Email: covered.covid@ubc.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COVERED_COVID
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rid.program/