The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security’s newly released report, The Public’s Role in COVID-19 Vaccination, recommends ways to advance public understanding of, access to, and acceptance of vaccines that protect against COVID-19. The guidance is the product of multidisciplinary working group that includes national figures in public health and social science with expertise in vaccinology, vaccine hesitancy, health disparities, infectious disease, bioethics, epidemiology, public health law, public health emergencies, mass vaccination, community engagement, and crisis and emergency risk communication.

The recommendations are to:

1. Put people at the center of a revolutionary SARS-CoV-2 vaccine research enterprise.
2. Understand and inform public expectations about vaccine benefits, risks, and supply.
3. Earn the public’s confidence that vaccine allocation and availability are evenhanded.
4. Make vaccination available in safe, familiar, and convenient places.
5. Communicate in meaningful, relevant, and personal terms, crowding out misinformation.
6. Establish independent representative bodies to instill public ownership of the vaccination program.
   

Read the report to view the recommendations in detail.