Generating acceptance and demand for COVID-19 vaccines

This page is no longer updated. Please see COVID-19 vaccines

Now that COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, the next major milestone will be ensuring people around the world are vaccinated, starting with the most vulnerable.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines presents fresh challenges, such as working to rapid timelines and reaching older populations that normally would not be a major focus of vaccination.

Addressing the operational challenges that arise from these developments is vital to ensuring vaccines are valued, trusted, easily available, and actively sought out. This is particularly important to achieve among under-reached groups, including women and girls.

These tools were designed to respond to these challenges and support planning and implementation for COVID-19 vaccination. They offer practical guidance on a range of areas – from planning, to data gathering and evaluation, to specific strategies for community engagement and managing rumours and misinformation.

These materials were developed through an iterative, participatory process by the demand sub-group of the Country Readiness and Delivery (CRD) workstream of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

These tools are designed for national immunization programme managers, partner organizations, implementers and civil society representatives, and should be adapted and tailored for local contexts.

Updated versions will be posted, based on the latest evidence and learning.

COVID-19 vaccines: Demand Planning Tool

This operational tool provides an overview of key activities and considerations to achieve high acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. It emphasizes the need for social listening and behavioural and social data collection and use, to guide the design and evaluation of targeted strategies to generate and sustain demand.

COVID-19 vaccines: Demand planning template (Excel sheet)

This communications plan template accompanies the Demand Planning Tool. It outlines the activities countries should consider when preparing to introduce COVID-19 vaccines. Countries can adapt this template and add activities to suit local contexts. Communications plans help to identify needs and avoid duplicating resources. They can also serve as an advocacy tool to leverage resources.

COVID-19 vaccines: Data for action

Understanding how people think, feel and act in relation to vaccination is vital to informing the development of strategies to generate acceptance and uptake for the vaccines. Generating and using data on behavioural and social drivers (BeSD), with tools, such as surveys and interview guides, can help address the drivers and barriers to COVID-19 vaccines uptake. This guidebook will enable programmes to design, target and evaluate interventions to achieve greater impact with more efficiency, and to examine and understand trends over time.

COVID-19 vaccines: Community engagement guide

Community engagement should be at the centre of all COVID-19 vaccine introduction activities. This document contains tips and discussion topics to be considered in vaccine delivery and demand, as well as guiding steps to ensure a safe and community-centred approach.

COVID-19 vaccines: Misinformation management guide

Misinformation threatens the success of vaccination programs across the world. This guide aims to help organizations address the global ‘infodemic’ – an overabundance of information – through the development of strategic and well-coordinated national action plans to rapidly counter misinformation and build demand for vaccination; these plans can benefit from social listening. You can visit the guide's web page here.