Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

The Understanding Yukoners' Attitudes Towards Vaccines Project is a collaborative research project between the Council of Yukon First Nations, One Yukon Coalition, Yukon University, and two Yukon First Nations (YFN). The project aimed to better understand how people in rural, remote, and Indigenous Yukon communities make decisions about vaccines: who they trust, where they get their information, and why they choose to get vaccinated or not. Project findings revealed complex relationships with COVID-19 and influenza vaccines: Participants appreciated the benefits of vaccine medicine, though often with caution, favouring traditional, land-based medicines. COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates sometimes triggered memories of residential school experiences, and trust in healthcare was found to be built through personal relationships rather than institutions. Participants also drew parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and their community's past health emergencies. These findings emphasize that to support the health of rural, remote, and Indigenous communities - especially in the case of future health emergencies - health communication must be culturally informed and conducted in collaboration with local nations; health practitioners and service providers must prioritize relationship-building in order to foster increased trust in health systems more broadly, and, although urgency may sometimes be necessary, health care providers need to understand that such persistence may lead to later doubt. Therefore, whenever possible, it is best to be patient and thorough in health promotion communication. To share these findings effectively, the project team must work with communities to develope various communication methods that reach Yukon communities, YFN governments, territorial and federal governments, health policy-makers, researchers, and other knowledge users. It is this robust knowledge mobilization strategy for which we are applying to this funding opportunity.