Enhancing Immunization Through Local Initiatives
Vaccines are among the most effective and cost-efficient means of preventing infectious diseases and deaths. Local health departments (LHDs) are essential in connecting communities with immunization services and counseling.
With support from the CDC, NACCHO collaborates with LHDs to enhance vaccine confidence, address hesitancy, improve uptake, and promote equity. These projects provide LHDs with the capacity-building and technical assistance needed to advance national immunization goals.
Participating LHDs have shared their experiences including successes, challenges, and resources that can benefit other health departments. This webpage highlights their valuable contributions.
NACCHO developed these resources to assist LHDs in addressing vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine confidence and uptake in their communities.
This training was based on the tools and resources developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as a part of the 100 Million Healthier Lives Initiative's Equity Action Lab. The model was adapted by NACCHO to focus on increasing vaccine confidence with a health equity lens.
These resources include stories, tools, and campaigns that LHDs have developed that we hope others can utilize to develop strategies that address vaccine confidence, hesitancy, and uptake in their own communities.
As part of their participation in the Equipping Local Health Departments to Address Vaccine Hesitancy project, Dallas County Health and Human Services in Texas conducted a Rapid Community Assessment to better understand barriers to vaccination in two of their school districts. To address the barriers they identified, they developed a PSA on the importance of back-to-school vaccines in both English and Spanish. View their PSAs and learn more about their project at the links below.
As part of their participation in the Equipping Local Health Departments to Address Vaccine Hesitancy project, the Martin County Health Department in Kentucky conducted a Rapid Community Assessment to better understand high school students' attitudes toward vaccinations. They worked with a group of students to design and administer a survey in the high school. Based on the results of the survey, they developed a social media toolkit with graphics, post language, and hashtags that the health department and others in the community can use to promote accurate information on vaccination. See their toolkit and read more about their project at the links below.
Williamson County and Cities Health District in Texas was one of the sites funded as part of the Increasing Vaccine Confidence project. As part of their project, they produced a series of videos called Immunity Takes Community. In these videos, they interviewed key community leaders about why they chose to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and why members of their community should too. They have videos in both Spanish and English.
They also created various print ads directed at different populations within their district, from teenagers to farmworkers.
For questions or inquiries, please email our team at [email protected].