Vaccine Confidence Podcast Episode 6

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Meriam Caboral-Stevens, a nurse practitioner, researcher, and faculty member at Eastern Michigan University School of Nursing and Eastern Michigan University’s Center for Health Disparities Innovations and Studies.

Dr. Caboral-Stevens has been activie in CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination initiative, and specifically works to expand vaccination in Asian American and Arab American communities. She describes this effort as having three components: finding and equipping trusted messengers to those communities, creating partnerships between the community and vaccine providers, and communication about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. She has worked on 10 mass vaccination clinics since the project began in April 2021.

This work has not existed without barriers. Dr. Caboral-Stevens describes issue with transportation, access to technology, and language differences. Cultural humility has been key for her as a Catholic Filipino woman working with Muslim populations. One mass vaccination event was run within a mosque. There is also work done to debunk myths and misconceptions about the vaccine that exist in these communities.

With a goal of getting more young people vaccinated, Dr. Caboral-Stevens’s team has focused on strategies to inform young adults about the safety of the vaccine, including coordinating with social media influencers as trusted messengers. Rather than general information, they work with messengers to discuss what they would like their community to hear and learn.

In discussing how the pandemic will change the healthcare system, Dr. Caboral-Stevens points to one major issue: telehealth. “Before COVID-19, telehealth was kind of like a buzzword…but the majority of health institutions did not have infrastructures for telemedicine or telehealth. I think it will be one of the things that systems and providers will have to embrace…telehealth is here to stay.”

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This project was funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant number NU50CK000580). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this resource center do not necessarily represent the policy of CDC or HHS, and should not be considered an endorsement by the Federal Government.

Vaccine Confidence Podcast Episode 5

In this episode, we hear from Melody Butler, RN, who works as an infection preventionist at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center on Long Island and founded Nurses Who Vaccinate.

Melody shares a story of working during the H1N1 flu outbreak while pregnant, and experience vaccine hesitancy due to information about the vaccine she was reading online. Through a series of conversations with another nurse, Melody came to the understanding that those sources were misleading, and that the data on the vaccine said it was safe. This experience empowered her to receive the vaccine and was also formative in her decision to found Nurses Who Vaccinate, which has over 1400 members nationwide.

When it came to the COVID-19 pandemic, Melody jumped at the chance to get vaccinated, especially because she had had COVID early on and was able to recover. “I know I had gotten lucky once,” she says, “and I didn’t want to play the lotto again. So I was very relieved to have received the vaccine.” Melody’s mission now is to help other nurses become vaccine advocates for their patients and communities. She feels strongly that nurses should be open about their personal experience with vaccines, and approach those who are vaccine hesitant with patience and understanding.

These conversations can happen on social media or in person with colleagues, friends, family members, and patients. Melody’s framework for a productive conversation about vaccine confidence is the CASE method, which uses Corroboration, About me, Science, and Explain. This method lets the person know she understands their concerns, allows her to share some of her knowledge and experience, focus on what scientific information is actually available, and then translate that information as it applies to each person’s life.

Melody stresses the importance of community partnerships in building vaccine confidence, and that vaccine advocates see their work as “a labor of love,” due to their many personal experiences with vaccines or the lack thereof.

Overall, she says, “I’m here tonight because I love my community. And I want to protect everyone who's there. And I want to make sure that they have access to this vaccine, and they know that they should get it because it's important and it could save their life. And if people have questions, I want them to know that they are comfortable asking them in a safe place.”

AVAILABLE ON

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This project was funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant number NU50CK000580). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this resource center do not necessarily represent the policy of CDC or HHS, and should not be considered an endorsement by the Federal Government.

Vaccine Confidence Podcast Episode 4

In this episode, two nurse practitioners from Pine Ridge Family Health Center, a clinic for Topeka Housing Authority residents, discuss the role of community partnerships in COVID testing, treatment, and vaccine distribution. Patrick Muchina is the Family Nurse Practitioner Manager for the clinic, and Dr. Amanda Hartman cares for patients there part-time in addition to teaching at the Washburn University School of Nursing.

Pine Ridge has been providing COVID testing throughout the pandemic and received grant funding to do rapid testing at the clinic. This means that patients living in the public housing community can walk to the center to receive a rapid test. “We are smack in the middle of an actual living, breathing neighborhood,” says Dr. Hartman. “We work amongst where our patients live.” Pine Ridge has also been referring out to their county health department for PCR testing throughout the pandemic.

Because of its small size, Pine Ridge did not qualify to receive Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but at the time of recording they were in the process of getting Johnson & Johnson doses. The center has been working hard to help community members access the vaccine in the meantime, especially for geriatric patients who may not have internet access or knowledge. Mr. Muchina describes not just calling and searching for vaccine appointments on behalf of patients, but also reaching out for possible transportation resources.

When asked about patients who may be hesitant about receiving the vaccine, Dr. Hartman and Mr. Muchina both agree that empathy is key. Mr. Muchina describes his experience and perspective as an African American man as key to reaching patients of the same demographic, including using his own COVID vaccine story. “I wanted to protect myself,” he shares. “I know when I protect myself, I’ve protected everybody around me, which includes my family, too.” He also encourages his patients to seek out COVID-related information from reputable sites like CDC’s website and the local health department, rather than what might be shared on Facebook.

On supporting students through the stress of the pandemic, Dr. Hartman says her views as a practitioner and teacher have evolved. “It’s really challenged my perspective of that professionalism, façade, almost, that we put on as provider and as faculty members.” Debriefing with her students on the emotions and stress that they are feeling has been beneficial for everyone.

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This project was funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant number NU50CK000580). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this resource center do not necessarily represent the policy of CDC or HHS, and should not be considered an endorsement by the Federal Government.

Vaccine Confidence Podcast Episode 3

Vaccine Confidence: Building Trust is the third episode in the six-part At the Core of Care Vaccine Confidence podcast and blog series.

In this episode, Stephen Perez and Jasmine Nakayama from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) share their thoughts on the rigor of the COVID-19 vaccine testing and the role of nursing increasing vaccine literacy and confidence across the country.

Stephen describes his experience as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic as similar to that of his experience working with patients with HIV, in terms of both the isolation and stigma of the work as well as the unique ability of nurses to rise the occasion. “Nurses are natural leaders,” he says, “and they have the ability to become leaders, because they are so close to the patient and doing the work that’s in and out of the patient’s life every day.”

When speaking to vaccine hesitancy, Jasmine prefers to reframe to vaccine confidence. She shares concerns that hesitancy is being used as an excuse for low immunization rates in communities of color, “rather than confronting long held equity and access issues. And as a result, we’re seeing that structural issues are often being met with individual-level interventions.

Stephen lays out a framework for vaccine confidence as “trust in the messenger, trust in the processes, and trust in the delivery system.” He discusses the long-held models that CDC uses to ensure the safety of vaccines, including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). However, communicating these safeguards to patients can often be a difficult process—one where nurses are well-poised to shine.

Stephen describes confidence in the vaccine along a continuum, with refusal on one side and demand on the other. In the middle of that continuum is where CDC focuses their efforts, use strategies like the “Stages of Change” model from the World Health Organization and motivational interviewing. Collaborative conversations are key to increasing vaccine confidence, as well as leveraging community relationships and developing a true understanding of barriers that communities face to get vaccinated.

AVAILABLE ON

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This project was funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant number NU50CK000580). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this resource center do not necessarily represent the policy of CDC or HHS, and should not be considered an endorsement by the Federal Government.