From vaccine hesitancy to acceptance:
Share experience with fellow immunization professionals from all over the world to keep vaccination going during the pandemic
The Geneva Learning Foundation and its partners invite you to join a short, practical peer learning exercise to develop case studies of vaccine hesitancy. This exercise will kick off on 9 November 2020.
Applications to the COVID-19 Peer Hub are currently closed.
You are encouraged to express your interest to receive notification when we will re-open applications.
Who should apply?
The Call for applications is open to all country-based immunization professionals who are facing vaccine hesitancy in their work.
National and sub-national immunization staff (health facility, district, zone/region or equivalent) who directly engage with vaccine-hesitant individuals, groups and communities are especially encouraged to apply.
Existing Members of the COVID-19 Peer Hub simply need to request the application to be accepted into the Exercise.
This Peer Hub exercise on vaccine hesitancy was completed on 18 December 2020.
Express your interest in future peer learning opportunities.
Vaccine hesitancy is the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines.
It threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.
The COVID-19 pandemic and an associated “infodemic” of misinformation has added new complexity to the reasons why people choose not to vaccinate.
Can you think of a time when you helped an individual or group overcome their initial reluctance, hesitancy, or fear about vaccination?
Health workers, especially those in communities, remain the most trusted advisor and influencer of vaccination decisions.
We need to support each other during the pandemic to continue providing trusted, credible information on vaccines – and prepare for the day when there will be a safe and effective COVID vaccine.
“Caregivers were with the incorrect view that routine vaccines may be source of infection for COVID-19. So we mobilized three health workers whose children were due for immunization, sent them to the community, and immunized their children in front of the caregivers. Caregivers then accepted the immunization service and showed up for care.” – A participant in the first peer-reviewed exercise
Why does this matter?
- In July 2020, almost a third (28%) of 4,547 applicants to the COVID-19 Peer Hub from 96 countries identified the reluctance of caregivers to come to health facilities as their most critical challenge.
- Another third cited lack of confidence in vaccination by the community, inadequate communication, community engagement.
Join us to make a difference
In response to these critical challenges, we invite you to join us for a four-week peer learning exercise in which we will:
- Share experience to identify ideas, strategies, and practices that have been effective.
- Give and receive feedback to each other to improve our strategies.
- Identify evidence, recommendations, and tools that can help us improve.
- Determine how our experience can strengthen preparedness efforts for a safe and effective COVID vaccine.
- Explore together possible scenarios for COVID vaccine rollout.
Peer-reviewed exercise schedule
Nov. 9-13
Onboarding week
Complete your registration for the exercise. Identify the specific situation or incident that you will work on in the exercise. Attend the first Global Assembly to share experience.
Nov. 16-20
Orientation week
Meet other participants. Learn to navigate the digital platforms used in this exercise.
Nov. 23-27
Week 1
Start writing up your case study: what happened when you managed to help someone overcome their initial reluctance, hesitancy, or fear of vaccination.
Nov. 30-Dec. 4
Week 2
Submit your case study so that fellow participants can help you improve.
Dec. 7-11
Week 3
Peer review three case studies to help your peers improve. Explore prospective scenarios for future roll-out of COVID vaccine.
Dec. 14-18
Week 4
Submit your revised case study. Reflect on prospective scenarios for future roll-out of COVID vaccine.
How much time does the exercise require?
Participants should expect to dedicate around 4-6 hours per week to exercise-related activities.
You may schedule your work at any time during the week, except for the weekly Global Assembly each Monday. (Recordings of these sessions will be made available for those who are unable to attend.)
Join a global community of action
If you are accepted into this exercise, you will be joining a global community of immunization staff who created the COVID-19 Peer Hub to share experience, spread ideas, and take action to keep vaccination going during the pandemic.
In this Exercise, you will develop a short case study based on a specific, real-life situation that you faced.
- You will explain what you did and what happened.
- You will then share your experience and learn from others, using peer review to give and receive feedback.
- This will share experience, help you learn, and improve your own case study.
“Even though I am challenged by time, I have been inspired and have learnt a lot from the exercise. And still learning and sharing. It is amazing that a lot of people from different geographical background are doing so much under the cloud of COVID-19 to keep EPI services going. I am motivated greatly to do more.” – A participant in the first peer-reviewed exercise (July 2020)
In order to be considered for this Exercise, we will ask you to honor the following commitments.
Our commitment to confidentiality
We trust each other in order to share and learn together.
- By applying for this exercise, you commit to respecting confidentiality under “Chatham House Rules”. This means that you will not name individuals, organizations, or countries when sharing information from the peer hub. This is to build a safe environment for immunization professionals to discuss and share experiences related to vaccine hesitancy.
- We also expect you to respect and abide by any restrictions and requirements from your employer or government.
1. The Immunization Scholar Pledge for Impact
I am committed to work for a world where everyone, everywhere, fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and wellbeing.
As a Scholar, I hereby solemnly pledge to:
- Work with others to transform projects led by Scholars into action and results that will improve immunization outcomes.
- To share my success as well as my challenges by reporting on a regular basis on my progress toward implementation.
- Support fellow Scholars in doing the same, while upholding the highest standard of integrity and behavior.
I make this pledge for the health of children and families in my country and everywhere.
2. Your commitment to progress in the fight against COVID-19 and the fight against all vaccine-preventable diseases
Currently, there is no vaccine for COVID-19 and there is no knowledge as to when one will be available.
Vaccines save lives. We can be proud of our work every day. More children in more countries are now protected against more vaccine-preventable diseases than at any point in history. Due to COVID-19 this immense progress is now under threat, risking the resurgence of diseases like measles and polio. At least 80 million children are at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases as COVID-19 disrupts vaccination efforts.
It would not be right for the fight against one disease to come at the expense of long-term progress in the fight against other diseases.
Not only will maintaining immunization programmes prevent more outbreaks, it will also preserve the infrastructure needed to roll out an eventual COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale.
3. Your commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic
As a health professional serving public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, I make the commitment to:
- Restore and sustain the immunization system in my country by using approaches that respect the principle of do-no-harm and limit transmission of COVID-19 while providing quality immunization services.
- Ensure that immunization delivery strategies are adapted where need be and are conducted under safe conditions, without undue harm to health workers, caregivers and the community.
- Ensure that quality data is collected at my level according to national policies and is used to inform decision-making at all levels and strengthen health systems.
- Implement effective communication strategies and engage with communities to allay concerns, enhance community linkages and re-establish or reinforce community demand for vaccination.
- Fight rumors, misinformation, conspiracy theories in all their forms and make it a duty to be informed only by reliable sources.
- Support each other to maintain safe services and restart immunization activities as soon as possible if circumstances require us to temporarily pause some activities.
I will contribute to the global effort until all people receive the vaccines they need, when they need them in spite of COVID-19.
I make this commitment for the health and safety of myself, my colleagues, and of all those I am called to serve.
Technical requirements
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they are able to meet the following requirements.
- Information technology: Participants need to have access to a reliable Internet connection and a standards-based browser less than two years old (Firefox, Safari, or Chrome). Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge users will be asked to use a standards-based browser. Mobile-only users will need to use Mobile Chrome in desktop mode for some activities.
- Internet: Specific guidance will be provided to those who have bandwidth limitations, intermittent access, or may suffer from disruption of their connection to the Internet.
- Languages: Activities are offered in English and French. Participants are encouraged to schedule extra time if they are not fully proficient writing in one of these languages.
Research and evaluation
TGLF will review projects and other data generated by participants. We may use these data in communication, advocacy, capacity building, and research. Applicants will be asked for their consent to participate in research by the Geneva Learning Foundation and its research partners to evaluate the efficacy of this learning initiative. Participation in this research is completely voluntary, and you may stop taking part at any time. In cases where learners do not consent, no learner data will be collected. Participation or non-participation will have no effect on assessment of your performance in the peer hub or your present or future relationship with the Geneva Learning Foundation or its Partners.
Certification
Upon successful completion of this peer-reviewed exercise, you will receive a Level 1 certificate of participation from The Geneva Learning Foundation's COVID-19 Peer Hub.
About The Geneva Learning Foundation
The Geneva Learning Foundation is a Swiss non-profit with the mission to develop, trial, and scale up new ways to lead change to tackle the challenges that threaten our societies.
The COVID-19 Scholar Peer Hub was developed by the Foundation’s Teach to Reach programme and is launched with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
