Grant: Operating Grant: COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is a major obstacle to Canada achieving adequate vaccine coverage. The decision to vaccinate is a trust sensitive one, and the trusting relationships primary care physicians (PCPs) share with their patients are key to improving vaccine confidence and uptake. This project uses methods that have already been successfully piloted to identify the origins of VH in a broad range of primary care patient populations (Funding Objective 1). It particularly targets VH in marginalized groups where vaccine uptake is low. It also expands and evaluates promising pilot intervention (www.vhguide.ca) which was launched in July 2021. That website supports PCPs in having conversations that will improve vaccine confidence (Funding Objective 2). Our team will conduct interviews that a) identify the origins of VH in marginalized groups; and b) draw out specific conversational approaches for effectively dealing with those types of VH. We will then iterate, improve, and evaluate the website using the material we gather in the interviews and from user analytics. Those analytics will be gathered in real time from the website as PCPs' use it, and through surveys asking about user experiences. The project will improve vaccine confidence and uptake.