VACCINE INCLUSION: REDUCING INEQUALITIES
As the COVID-19 vaccination programme was picking up momentum, Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) carried out research to ensure the distribution of the vaccine would not miss vulnerable groups. SP takes a closer look…
Claire Stevens
among certain ethnic minority groups. VHS - the national intermediary and network for voluntary health organisations across Scotland - wanted to test how this vaccine confidence would translate to the COVID-19 vaccine and how pronounced the impact of inequalities would be on its uptake.
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In February 2021, VHS conducted a qualitative study in the form of an online consultation of our member organisations and wider network asking about the barriers they faced and about the enablers to uptake of the vaccine.
A total of 170 responses were received and, since collating the data, VHS has been feeding its results back to the Public Health Scotland Evaluation of the Flu Vaccination COVID Vaccination (FVCV) programme and to the Scottish Government teams co-ordinating the COVID-19 vaccination programme, as well as the newly-developed COVID-19 Vaccine Inclusive Programme Steering Group.
Shared barriers The research identified that there were some overarching barriers shared amongst the different groups. These barriers can be divided up into issues of vaccine confidence and vaccine convenience:
Vaccine confidence Respondents shared that issues such as widespread misinformation relating to the vaccine were a barrier, as these added to the fear or mistrust of the vaccine. They highlighted that people did not know where to get credible and accessible information, leaflets or advice regarding the vaccine, and that NHS Inform was not known to them.
Vaccine convenience There were also a range of practical issues identified within the research that affect a range of demographics.
There was a range of groups identified, who may not have a fixed address and were therefore missing out on both information regarding the vaccine and a chance to access it. There was also a number of groups that are not currently
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scottishpharmacist.com
cotland is a vaccine confident nation and the uptake of vaccines is generally high, but it is lower in areas of deprivation, and
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