Behavioural Science Principles for Supporting COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence and Uptake Among Ontario Health Care Workers

Abstract

Health Care Workers (HCWs) are the backbone of Ontario’s COVID-19 pandemic response and are a key vaccination priority group. About 80% of Ontario HCWs intend to receive COVID-19 vaccine.1 Challenges include the logistics of delivering the vaccine to this mobile and diverse group and improving vaccine confidence in the remaining 20%. These challenges can be overcome by allaying safety concerns and highlighting personal benefits; tailoring messages to factors associated with lower intention (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity and work setting); employing trusted leaders to set the tone and peers to build social norms; and leveraging public health organizations and health institutions as existing channels of influence.

Beliefs regarding COVID‐19 vaccines among Canadian workers in the intellectual disability sector prior to vaccine implementation

“…Findings here mirror what has been reported by non-physician health care workers in Canada, meaning vaccine education initiatives targeting health care workers can likely be extended to those in the ID workforce. That said, it is important that workers in the ID sector see themselves in this messaging, both in terms of demographic characteristics and professional identity (Presseau et al 2021). Messaging on public health websites and social media are effective channels to target the ID workforce as well as the population they serve by tailoring existing messaging to align with behaviour science principles (Desveaux et al 2021).…”

COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy among Healthcare Workers—A Review

“…Several government and public health organizations have provided recommendations for addressing HCW COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table listed several recommendations on how to promote vaccination among HCWs, including explaining the vaccine development process, normalizing feelings of anxiety, identifying HCWs who have chosen to vaccinate, and easy access to vaccination [251]. The CDC recommended encouraging vaccination among senior leaders, hosting discussions where HCWs can ask questions about vaccination, and providing small, non-monetary rewards for vaccination [252].…”

Early Impact of Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout on Long-Term Care Home Residents and Health Care Workers

“…2 While COVID-19 vaccine uptake has been more than 90% among Ontario LTC residents, the vaccine uptake among staff has been 68% as of March 5, 2021, which is lower than the reported vaccination intention rate of 80.4% among Ontario's unionized healthcare workers. 12 Closing this gap is essential, and may require behavioural science informed education and communication about COVID-19 vaccines, 13 as well as financial support such as paid time off, transportation for vaccination, and guaranteed paid sick leave in case of vaccine side effects that result in missed time from work. 14 Emerging vaccine safety data from Ontario show that following the administration of 687,271 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of February 27, 2021, the most frequent adverse events reported to date were skin reactions, as well as pain and redness at the injection site.…”