Community health leaders from 13 U.S. states gathered last month at The Task Force to confront the rising challenge of vaccine distrust and misinformation. Their efforts are crucial to combating the surge of false information in communities and across social media, which has been linked to lower immunization rates and the loss of herd immunity – two dangerous trends tied to deadly measles outbreaks in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
“Social media can capitalize on that kernel of doubt and just explode,” said Melissa Graven, HIV Programs Assistant Director and Coalition Manager with the Illinois Public Health Association. “It’s really on us now, and it’s incumbent and important that we regain that trust in public health and that we use our voices to amplify that and engage that trust in the community again.”
The event was hosted by The Task Force for Global Health’s Voices for Vaccines program, which works with statewide coalitions of healthcare professionals, community leaders and parents striving to increase vaccine confidence.
Voices for Vaccines Director Karen Ernst is a former teacher who uses her education training to combat the spread of disease.
“We give fact-based information that enables parents to make healthy, informed decisions about vaccination for their children and their communities,” said Ernst. “We are a family-run organization that serves as a catalyst to spark positive conversations about vaccines and the diseases they prevent.”
At the March meetings, attendees discussed strategies to build trust and develop messages that will resonate with people in their communities.
Speaking about her work in Illinois, Graven shared how she uses her previous experience as a nurse and has adapted her approach to reach more people.
“My entire nursing career has been as a vaccinator,” she said. “I really come from that hands-on, shot-in-the-arm kind of perspective. I find myself trying to think bigger than that. It’s more than just about the person sitting right in front of you, but scaling that up statewide, so that it’s not so individualized, but at a community level.”
Knowledge sharing and collaboration are at the core of this mission. Members from each state presented challenges they were experiencing as well as successful strategies that other attendees might apply to their own communities.
“Why reinvent the wheel? You hear creative ideas from people’s different perspectives, and it’s great to take their challenge and see how I can adapt it and apply it to our challenge,” said Graven. “That creative thinking really lends itself to getting our message out in ways that have already been proven to be effective.”
Summit participants are collaborating on a coalition toolkit that will be used as a resource-sharing platform to capitalize on their experiences and use them to make decisions in the future.
Voices for Vaccines also supports state health initiatives by training volunteers to expand the reach of their work, which can be especially helpful in states with limited resources.
“Volunteers that help our coalitions are called Vax Ambassadors,” said Breyana Williams, Public Health Associate at Voices for Vaccines. “They are community members in different states across the country. Every month, our team trains these people on different topics and gives them a call to action to go into their community and educate others.”
Another key part of this multi-layered approach is sharing stories from former vaccine-hesitant individuals and others who have suffered from preventable diseases.
“Personal stories are more engaging than plain health information,” said VFV Communications Coordinator Noah Louis-Ferdinand. “These are really powerful stories, because even people who are pro-vaccine may not know how bad a disease is until they read about it from someone who has experienced it.”
These unique messages, tools and events all aim to reduce the harm caused by preventable diseases. By reaching people both online and in person, these teams provide their communities with the resources they need to protect themselves and others from debilitating and potentially fatal diseases.
“Public health is about everybody,” said Breyana Williams. “We’re all better, healthier and stronger together.”
