Global Health & Population Research, FHI 360, 359 Blackwell Street, Suite 200, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Polio Team Lead, Health Section, UNICEF Ethiopia Country Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Sep 18;24(1):2532. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19860-5.
In 2020, as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative worked to address outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the Covid-19 pandemic suspended routine immunization campaigns worldwide. There were concerns about how Covid-19 - and the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines - might influence uptake of the oral polio vaccine (OPV). To inform communications strategies, we conducted a qualitative study to explore insights from community stakeholders into how Covid-19 influenced perceptions of OPV and vaccination campaigns.
We conducted 32 focus group discussions with caregivers of children under 5 and polio frontline workers as well as 22 in-depth interviews with healthcare practitioners and social influencers in Cameroon and Ethiopia. In each country, we purposively sampled stakeholders per discrete eligibility criteria from one urban (Yaoundé and Addis Ababa) and one peri-urban site (Bafia and Adama).
We found that the Covid-19 pandemic and related precautionary measures introduced new challenges for OPV campaigns in Cameroon and Ethiopia, including reduced caregiver confidence in routine immunizations and an erosion of trust between caregivers and frontline workers. A salient concern among caregivers was that Covid-19 vaccines might be delivered in place of OPV. When asked how to maximize community support for future OPV campaigns, stakeholders suggested to rebuild caregiver trust for frontline workers; use a variety of information sources to ensure consistent messaging on vaccination reaches caregivers in a timely manner; increase remuneration, resources, and training for frontline workers; and leverage existing community influencers and groups.
Despite the challenges to vaccination campaigns experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was anticipated that the Polio Programme would continue to experience community support for OPV with appropriate messaging and community coordination. These efforts would "build back the confidence" among caregivers and other community stakeholders regarding community-based vaccination campaigns. Social and behavior change approaches that leverage clear, consistent messaging from multiple trusted platforms could address caregiver trust and dismantle mis/dis-information that creates confusion surrounding vaccines.
2020 年，全球根除脊髓灰质炎行动（GPEI）致力于应对疫苗衍生脊髓灰质炎 2 型病毒（VDPV2）的爆发，尤其是在撒哈拉以南非洲地区。然而，新冠疫情的爆发导致全球常规免疫接种活动暂停。人们担心新冠疫情及其新冠疫苗的引入可能会影响口服脊髓灰质炎疫苗（OPV）的接种率。为了为传播策略提供信息，我们进行了一项定性研究，以探索社区利益相关者对新冠疫情如何影响 OPV 和疫苗接种活动的看法。
我们在喀麦隆和埃塞俄比亚进行了 32 次焦点小组讨论，参与者为 5 岁以下儿童的照顾者和脊髓灰质炎一线工作者；进行了 22 次深入访谈，参与者为医疗保健从业者和社会影响者。在每个国家，我们根据明确的资格标准，在一个城市（雅温得和亚的斯亚贝巴）和一个城市周边地区（巴菲和阿达马），有目的地对利益相关者进行了抽样。
我们发现，新冠疫情及其相关的预防措施给喀麦隆和埃塞俄比亚的 OPV 运动带来了新的挑战，包括照顾者对常规免疫接种的信心下降，以及照顾者和一线工作人员之间的信任受损。照顾者的一个突出关切是，新冠疫苗可能会取代 OPV。当被问及如何最大限度地提高社区对未来 OPV 运动的支持时，利益相关者建议重建照顾者对一线工作人员的信任；利用多种信息来源，确保及时向照顾者传递有关疫苗接种的一致信息；增加一线工作人员的报酬、资源和培训；并利用现有的社区影响者和团体。
尽管在新冠疫情期间疫苗接种活动面临挑战，但预计脊髓灰质炎方案将继续得到社区对 OPV 的支持，只要有适当的信息传递和社区协调。这些努力将“重建信心”，让照顾者和其他社区利益相关者对基于社区的疫苗接种活动充满信心。利用来自多个可信平台的清晰、一致的信息传递的社会和行为改变方法可以解决照顾者的信任问题，并消除围绕疫苗产生的混乱的错误/虚假信息。
