Communicating about Vaccine Safety: Guidelines to Help Health Workers Communicate with Parents, Caregivers, and Patients

Studies show that telling people about the quality, safety, effectiveness, and availability of vaccines is not enough to influence behaviour change related to immunisation. For this reason, it is necessary to understand the reasons why people choose not to get vaccinated or not get their children vaccinated, in order to begin a two-way respectful dialogue. "Such a dialogue must incorporate emotional elements, enhance personal narratives, and use evidence-based communication techniques..." Given this context, the main objective of these guidelines is to support health workers in their dialogue with parents/caregivers and patients, with the aim of strengthening, maintaining, or recovering trust in vaccines and the immunisation programmes in the Region of the Americas.

Main contents include:

1. Factors that influence the decision to vaccinate - Presents the determinants and cognitive biases that influence the decision to vaccinate, and examines the gap in risk perception between the population and health authorities and health workers.
2. The spectrum of vaccine hesitancy - Explores the spectrum of vaccination-related behaviour, which ranges from total acceptance to rejection of all vaccines, and outlines the 3 major determinants of vaccine hesitancy: contextual factors, individual or group factors, and vaccine-dependent factors.
3. Communication strategies for interaction with parents, caregivers, and patients - Introduces concepts and methods of interpersonal communication that can guide and support health workers in their dialogue with parents, caregivers, and patients, such as the 6 principles that can help strengthen trust between the population and health workers and strategies for communicating about individual and collective benefits (including use of social media).
4. Strategies to improve the vaccination experience - Provides information about specific pain and anxiety mitigation methods, such as holding techniques, and indicates which strategies are not recommended because they can cause discomfort or harm.
5. Frequently asked questions about vaccination - Presents common questions, concerns, and fears that health workers must address, and provides examples of key messages and answers, incorporating evidence-based communication techniques and strategies.
6. Frequently asked questions and key messages about vaccines against influenza, human papilloma virus, and measles, and vaccines in development against COVID-19 - Discusses common concerns related to certain specific vaccines that lead to hesitancy, concerns, and misperceptions, and provides examples of responses.
7. Debunking false information and misconceptions about vaccines - Examines how false information gets into our minds, explores the reasons why it is so difficult to remove false information once it takes root, presents basic strategies for replacing false information with evidence, and provides information on how to address false information and misconceptions that establish a relationship between vaccines and autism.
8. How to communicate about adverse events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization (ESAVIs) - Defines the categories of ESAVIs, and provides information on communication strategies to support dialogue on ESAVIs in order to build trust.
9. Communicating with vaccine-hesitant colleagues - Presents communication strategies to support health workers in dialogue with vaccine-hesitant colleagues.