IMC DB 2

Integrating Communication Theory into COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion

The Health Belief Model (HBM), the communication theory that resonates most with me and offers the most useful framework when guiding my final project on promoting COVID-19 vaccine uptake, is what I relied on to adapt and implement specific messages to prompt people to vaccinate. Considering this theory’s emphasis on individuals’ unique beliefs about health behaviours and outcomes, it is particularly effective in addressing some of the more nuanced aspects of vaccine hesitancy (Alyafei & Easton-Carr, 2024). With the choice outcomes and motivators identified for parental vaccination for daycare-aged children in Mississippi, the constructs of HBM—perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy—seem to fit well: IMC DB 2.

Notably, this model is especially relevant because vaccine hesitancy often stems from misinformation and suspicion. For example, Nathanielsz et al. (2022) reported that many parents underestimate their children’s susceptibility to COVID-19 and the degree to which their children are at risk of long COVID or other complications or transmission of the virus to others.

These aspects can be used to educate parents through the campaign on the dangers of being unvaccinated. Further steps toward perceived barriers include vaccine safety issues and distrust in governmental recommendations. Such barriers can be mitigated with open, evidence-based messages from trusted messengers, including pediatricians and local community leaders.

Cues to action, such as reminders through daycare centers or pediatricians’ offices, become precarious steps forward for parents to vaccinate their children. Although the literature on this is controversial, one more way that empowers is reckoning self-efficacy by making access to vaccines very easy, such as through mobile clinics or extended hours at vaccination sites.

Table: Supporting Statements for COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign (Modeled on Table 9A-5)

Focused Concerns for Campaign

In light of the above, I will focus on two main concerns in this campaign: the safety of vaccines and the belief that children do not need vaccination because they are perceived as less susceptible to severe outcomes. These concerns will easily appeal to “fence-sitter” parents who may not operate on strongly opposing grounds against vaccines, yet extreme fear or misinformation may still have them vacillating in their decisions. By addressing these particular concerns with specific, HBM-based messaging, the campaign would elicit urgency but also reinforce benefits and access to vaccination.

References

Alyafei, A., & Easton-Carr, R. (2024, May 19). The Health Belief Model of Behavior Change. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK606120/

Nathanielsz, J., Toh, Z. Q., Do, L. A. H., Mulholland, K., & Licciardi, P. V. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and implications for vaccination. Pediatric Research, 23(3). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02254-x

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Create a table like this of your own for your vaccine-related social marketing plan for stakeholders in MS. Insert this table into your market research section, which you’ll complete in Assignment 2.

IMC DB 2

Vaccination has been described as a victim of its own success. Some people question why everyone doesn’t just do it, given its effectiveness as a public health intervention and in improving overall societal health. Yet, there are many reasons people with access to vaccines opt-out. When considering vaccination from the perspective of vaccine opponents, what are the major reasons that they do not want to vaccinate?