Grant: Operating Grant: COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

People in prison are a key population for improving COVID-19 vaccine uptake. While vaccine uptake rates have been historically low in correctional facilities, the provision of education by trusted individuals may be key to improving uptake. With the overall goal of increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake and improving COVID-19 vaccine confidence among people incarcerated in federal prison, we will design and evaluate a tailored COVID-19 educational intervention. The intervention will address key barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake that were recently identified through individual interviews with vaccine-hesitant people in federal prison. Correctional-facility nurses will then be trained to deliver the educational intervention, and its impact on vaccine uptake and vaccine confidence will be evaluated. If the educational intervention is found to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake and confidence, it could be disseminated throughout the Canadian correctional system (federal and provincial/territorial prisons), and simultaneously adapted to correctional facility staff, to potentially improve vaccine uptake and confidence among thousands of individuals.