A GP and clinical director played a key role in encouraging the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine within the local community by addressing myths and answering common concerns.
A GP and clinical director of a primary care network in Leeds has been integral in the promotion of COVID-19 vaccinations to local community members since the beginning of the vaccine rollout.
An online Q&A session was organised by the clinical director and a local third sector partner to help address misinformation in the area and allow community members and local third sector staff to access factual and culturally relevant messages about the vaccine. The session gave local community members the opportunity to raise their concerns and get answers directly from their local GP. It also helped to inform third sector staff who were able to disseminate the resources and key messages from the session with their networks and community members. The partnership with the third sector organisation helped with the promotion of the event and meant attendees felt reassured as the event was hosted by two local, trusted sources.
Additionally, the same locality trialled one of the city’s first roving, flexible vaccine offers, which was the vaccination bus and this approach was supported and promoted by the clinical director. To help with the promotion of the roving offer, the clinical director visited a local mosque in the area to give a talk to the congregation before Friday prayers about the walk in vaccine offer that was hosted across the road. The clinical director also visited two other mosques in the area to encourage the Iman and management staff to promote the vaccine to their own congregation.
The clinical director was also part of the press release and photocall for the roving bus to help with messages around the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. All these engagement opportunities provided community members with different opportunities to access consistent messages on the vaccine and have their questions answered from a trusted community figure.
The proactive involvement of the clinical director in the promotion of the vaccine meant that the local area had a trusted source of information, who provided clear messages, across a range of platforms, at a time when there was a lot of concern and uncertainty about the vaccine.
- The challenge: misinformation and access to factual and culturally relevant messages
- The solution: proactive involvement of the GP to be a consistent voice about the vaccine and be involved with events on a variety of platforms e.g. online q&A, talks at the local mosques, press release
- The impact (including cost savings and income generated if applicable): People who were uncertain about the vaccine got their questions answered, community members got to hear a trusted figure in the community speak about why the vaccine was safe
- Lessons learned: importance of the messenger and not just the message, need for a consistent source of information and multiple approaches helped to reach a wider range of individuals in the community e.g. FB and in person
Contact
Leeds City Council Localities and Primary Care team via [email protected]