WHY
Vaccination uptake remains one of our greatest health challenges. With falling vaccination rates for existing vaccinations, we are now seeing the circulation of diseases such as measles and whooping cough in multiple areas of the country.
Within the North West there are large pockets of community with vaccination rates as low as 65-75% and local healthcare teams are struggling to connect with them to support them.
HOW
We bring vaccination support directly into the heart of communities.
We supported 8 local community organisations that were well-known within their community and well-trusted.
We worked alongside organisations that were in tune with the needs of their community, therefore they helped guide the direction of engagement towards what was most suited and would be well received by their community. By working closely with these community organisations each project we co-created was unique and tuned in to their community.
WHAT
Over 6 months, and 8 unique, community-specific approaches we engaged communities about vaccinations, these included:
- How to keep your child well events and roadshows
- MMR and EID celebration events
- Stay and Play Family Hub Sessions
- Call and Recall Support
- Events in faith-based settings
Through these events over 1360 members of community were engaged in open, non-judgemental conversations with a ‘trusted face’ in their community to support them to make a positive informed decision on vaccinations.
We trained 175 ‘trusted faces’ in the 8 communities through our Vax Chat training. Each training was tailored to support their conversations based on their communities’ specific barriers, such as pork gelatin in the MMR vaccine or lack of knowledge of the vaccine schedule in the UK vs abroad.
The events provided opportunities for families to access healthcare professionals in setting trusted settings. In addition, over 50% of the events offered onsite vaccination clinics in the trusted settings.
“There have been a lot of positive conversations with community members and we’ve created a culture where people are more accepting of vaccines. People liked having access to professionals in familiar surroundings, making them feel comfortable and enabling open honest conversations, in which they didn’t feel judged.”
Fatima Women’s Association Oldham
8
community & healthcare North West low vaccination uptake areas targeted
1360+
Members of community engaged
175
Community leaders & champions trained
“It was great working with the ICE team, with these connections we are now still working closely with the Family Hub team and going forward we are hoping to continue with this on a regular basis, potentially throughout the year as a roadshow.”
Pendle West
Care Coordinator
