Interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake and reduce vaccine hesitancy (PHIRST Fusion)

Background:

Vaccines are a central component of the UK Government’s strategy to bring about the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, mass immunisation requires a significant majority of the population to participate. Tackling COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been a focus for health protection agencies, particularly given the demographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake across the country.

The UK Government committed £23.75 million in 2021 and a further £22.5 million in 2022 for local authorities to access to support their Community Champions scheme in boosting vaccine uptake. The aim being to enable local authorities to resource and mobilise local networks to deliver tailored efforts in support of increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake in those most at risk.

Objectives included overcoming the barriers to accessing accurate information and providing targeted support such as telephone calls for those digitally excluded. However, while there is evidence to suggest that Community Champions are supportive in creating social connections and linking those most disadvantaged to local services there is limited evidence on their effectiveness in increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

Three West Midlands local authorities: Birmingham City Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, and Walsall Council, developed activities to support Community Champion schemes. They want to capture the impact the scheme has had on uptake, but also the broader benefits regarding health literacy and vaccine knowledge as well as community connectivity in order for them to better understand the needs and requirements across their respective authorities’ diverse communities.

They are also interested in the potential transferability and sustainability of the Community Champion model to other public health areas (e.g. physical activity). We will work with these three local authorities to evaluate their respective schemes, particularly in the context of health inequalities.

Methods:

From January to April 2022 we will be undertaking an evaluability assessment process, working closely with the local authorities and other stakeholders. This participatory approach involves a series of workshops, to identify and develop an evaluation strategy. The choice of methods will be based on factors such as the evaluation questions (s), data available, and the resources of the evaluation team.

The evaluability assessment will inform the evaluation protocol, a first draft of which we expect to submit for review by the end of June 2022. We anticipate commencing primary data collection in August 2022. Outputs:

Working with partners at the three local authorities, we will use the most appropriate methods to disseminate the findings and to mobilise knowledge from the evaluation. This is likely to take the form of a full report tailored to needs of the three local authorities, as well as a policy brief containing recommendations aligned to their public health objectives.

We are also exploring the option for an embedded researcher in one of the local authorities to work on the project. Other knowledge mobilisation methods will be explored such as webinars and face-to-face presentations. All outputs will be informed by appropriate