Objectives: This article describes an intervention that took place in Québec, Canada, to mitigate COVID-19 vaccine tension in schools, exacerbated by the 12-17 years old vaccination campaign. Building on this initiative, it proposes guiding principles for prevention and intervention in conflict around COVID-19 vaccination in and around schools. Intervention: Three complementary tools were developed by a community program, CoVivre, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team, to help practitioners and parents understand vaccine tensions and their impact on youth, and to suggest simple ways to prevent and intervene in vaccine related conflicts. Recommendations: A thorough research evaluation could not be performed due to the rapid crisis response; however, the tools received positive feedback by practitioners, institutions, and decision makers. Recommendations were structured around the following principles: (a) fostering transparent and nuanced health communications; (b) avoiding confrontation and refusing to escalate while strongly condemning criminal acts; (c) encouraging open dialogue; and (d) preserving relationships. Implications: Mental health consequences of public health interventions should be considered at inception to avoid collateral damages. Removing children from the heart of societal conflict and maintaining the family-school relationship is crucial to child development. It is imperative to engage interdisciplinary teams to protect youth from societal polarization, and provide an opportunity for growth and resilience. This initiative suggests that more research is needed on the impacts of encouraging an open dialogue around vaccination, and adopting an empathetic approach amongst youth towards others who may not share the same opinion.

The COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects around the world, yet it was not experienced equally by all. The emergence of the virus has been linked with the intensification of discrimination and inequities, as well as other systemic issues already present in society prior to the pandemic. The CoVivre Program was created with the mission to facilitate and accelerate initiatives aimed at reducing socioeconomic and health disparities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Montreal Area. CoVivre aims to inform, protect, and support communities, with an emphasis on communities experiencing marginalization, such as ethnic and religious minorities, refugees, asylum seekers, and precarious workers. This mission is guided by the latest research and CoVivre’s values of community empowerment, partnership, democratic communications, and cultural competency, among others. This article describes the process of planning and implementing the program and its components: Communications, Outreach and Awareness Raising, and Psychosocial Support and Mental Health, with a description of one project per component. It also aims to identify obstacles and facilitators of the program, to reflect on their relation with local and global ecosystems and their relationship to community action, and to examine community mobilization as expressing both resilience and resistance to top-down impositions.

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