Exploring Attitudinal and Emotional Barriers to Vaccination Uptake

Leaflet

Notes

Common challenges and barriers to effective communication

Some additional barriers other than cultural and physical are:

Attitudinal barrier: Some people are identified to be resisting the change and feel it is riskier to take the vaccine as they think that there is no higher chance of being affected by covid.

Emotional barrier: As the studies do not guarantee 100% covid protection people are losing their trust in vaccination programs (Abdallah, and Lee, 2021). New and untested vaccines are thought to make people fall sick. Even the people are afraid of going out and taking vaccines so that there is less contact with other people.

Economic barrier: The cost of vaccination might not be pocket-friendly for the people that are availing of the service.

Effective strategies for overcoming communication barriers

Effective strategies that are undertaken for the overcoming of communication barriers are identified as educating people on the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign. Putting information upfront in different languages can be effective for covid management. Remembering that words matter is essential since outreaching people with assurance of being well after vaccination through social media is essential (Trovato et al. 2020). It is also essential to convey the message that pregnant ladies should be vaccinated first and it is safe for them.

Importance of cultural awareness

Cultural awareness is essential as covid vaccination will not be successful if not all cultures and ethnic people support it. “There have been countless initiatives to boost access and engagement and to create new expressions, meanings, and energies." Healthy community building is directly linked with cultural awareness development within. The UK is a culturally diverse country and needs to focus on pro-vaccination process of individual immigrant, migrants and refugees.

References

Journals

Abdallah, D.A. and Lee, C.M., 2021. Social norms and vaccine uptake: College students’ COVID vaccination intentions, attitudes, and estimated peer norms and comparisons with influenza vaccine. Vaccine, 39(15), pp.2060-2067.

Crawshaw, A.F., Deal, A., Rustage, K., Forster, A.S., Campos-Matos, I., Vandrevala, T., Würz, A., Pharris, A., Suk, J.E., Kinsman, J. and Deogan, C., 2021. What must be done to tackle vaccine hesitancy and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in migrants?. Journal of Travel Medicine, 28(4), p.taab048.

Trovato, M., Sartorius, R., D’Apice, L., Manco, R. and De Berardinis, P., 2020. Viral emerging diseases: challenges in developing vaccination strategies. Frontiers in Immunology, 11.

Introduction

The report is structured to present a discussion on general theories of organizational communication. Evaluation of the barriers to communication that prevents people from taking the vaccine is presented in this context. Some government strategies are outlined to overcome the barriers and there are recommendations applied to the situations. Maximum leaflets are distributed and a huge number of people are vaccinated. It helps in encouraging a campaign that is managing effective vaccinations for people across the UK. This report is structured to give information to the prime minister on how the pro-vaccination is successfully conducted.

Analysis and discussion

General theories of organizational communication

In this model, linear communication is encouraged which was developed by the author in the year 1948. Here the process follows this path:

“The sender encodes a message and chooses a communication channel

The encoder, a part of the channel, converts the code into signals.

The decoder takes those signals and translates them into a message for the receiver.

The receiver gets the message and interprets it.”

Lasswell communication model: Lasswell asks a series of questions where people give explanations on who said what and what message is interpreted to the receiver. Audience analysis looks at whomever the message is being sent to in this model.

Fredrick Taylor’s scientific management: The principles of scientific management are associated with ways of understanding modern organization (Crawshaw et al. 2021). Frederick concentrates on the production-centered perspective of organizational communication. “Taylor did not feel the need to build rapport among workers. Rather, he felt that managers needed to communicate in a clear-cut and candid manner”. The theorists also believed workers only need to know how to put their 100% job satisfaction. This theory is expected to generate maximum communication efficacy and ensure that the nurses are allowed to process the vaccination program effectively without any hassle. Four important categories of communication such as formal/informal communication, oral/written communication, and internal/external communication are observed.

Bureaucratic Theory: Max Weber and Henri Fayol were known for their work in this particular aspect of the design of theory. “Max Weber termed bureaucracy as the ideals in which organizations should aim for and aspire.” This communication component focuses on organizational leadership and task proficiency along with interpersonal relationships. “All decisions, rules, regulations, and behaviors are recorded.”. Formal communication should be done in understandable language which is preferred by all. Each worker under the application of this theory is expected to act as a well-developed resource and communicate any discrepancy to the higher authority. Taking ownership of the situation and managing communication through linear, interactional, and transactional models.

Evaluation of the barriers of communication preventing people from getting the vaccine Known barriers to vaccines adoption and pain points:

Barriers include low opportunity due to the huge cost incurred to the government on completing vaccination programs. Conducting vaccination free of cost to a mass of people is not possible entirely as it would consume a lot of time and cause queues to form (Ekezie et al. 2021). Vaccines are still under trial. The most important part is being neglected as there is no follow-up focused on vaccination components. “Doubts around eligibility connected to their age, occupation, documentation status, insurance status, and location”. There are concerns generated whether the vaccines are prone to reaction and have long-lasting effects. It is also observed that concerns are developed in case of sharing information and potentially negative consequences for their families. People are having doubts regarding their eligibility to take the vaccine since no information is provided on medical history, current lifestyle. Physically challenged people are unable to make themselves present in those portals. It is also necessary to gain adequate queue management support so that no further spread is encountered while standing in the queue.

Outreach communication:

Descriptive language: Descriptive language is sometimes becoming biased based on stereotypes. For example, all members of poultry firms should not be required to bring their IDs at once. They should be asked politely to center on the series of activities (Etti et al. 2021). The communication should be following the image provided below with the highlighted area and not the commanding tone.

If the authority commands upon employer mandate immunization then it becomes a miscommunication aspect for the employers to understand whoever is being qualified for the events of vaccination and return to work. Bilingual personnel on their side of communication helps in providing adequate information on how the immunization is going to possibly work in favor of the people applied with covid-19 vaccinations. Specific language and tones should be used to change the perception of the intention of communication with patients who have agreed to take vaccines and become pro-vaccinated (Ferdinand, 2021). A person has to be careful with the words which are used and how it is being plotted. Some people have the misconception that covid would not hit them and they need to shred this mentality. Nurses are mostly talking in English and giving vaccines. Hence, it becomes an issue for non-English speaking people to understand the process.

Limited access to the internet:

Vaccinations require registration using details in certain portals. Now unavailability of the internet or low literacy along with lack of idea on usage of cellphones in elderly people is becoming a major communication threat. Announcing the vaccination both online and offline aspects are important for managing workflow and lessening the queue timing. Misunderstandings regarding vaccination eligibility are expected to be mitigated within this system of information management.

Government strategies to overcome these barriers

Checking out whether the concerned person has understood the requirements correctly

Setting up a communications task force, which is headed up by a national focal point, is important along with keeping in touch with bilinguals (Lin et al. 2020).

The Ministry of health and the private sector need to mobilize the resources and include from the private sectors. The rapid actions are needed to be taken and completed

for

the relevant skills to be offered for covid communication in both online and offline mediums

Reviewing the communication barriers and observing what is being done internationally and locally. Country programs are needed to be aware of global developments. Authoritative sources include WHO, Hygiene hub, and World Bank for mapping existing national efforts

Defining the behaviors that are required to be changed by people that are involved within channels of communication is essential. Risk behavior management and rapid Developing and unifying national brands is important for covid pro-vaccination and organizing information camps to re-evaluate individual behaviors. Encouraging people to complete their vaccine dose through social media campaigns

Prioritizing vaccination is important. At first, the frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, and social workers should be encouraged (Liu, and Liu, 2021.).

Then the process should move forward with three-step programs such as selected age group wise vaccination starting from 60 to 80 years, 40 to 60 years, and above 18 years segments.

Technical competency should be encouraged to minimize the gaps between emerging data visualization and the dissemination of programs.

Including all healthcare agencies in mitigating the communication gap by spreading awareness door-to-door and investing in IoT based sensor systems for thermal screening can

effectively reduce the queue timing in the vaccination process (Waterman, 2021)

Health programs are supposed to be migrated and errors should be optimized as the programs cannot be conducted by sitting idle in one position. The patient data is stored in typically secured databases and it should be informed to the people

Recommendation

“If a person is over 70 years old, have babies or young children to carry with or have mobility issues, and cannot stand for a long time, it should be informed to concerned personnel so that the process can be fast-forwarded and taken to more expedited lane”

All persons should arrive at the vaccination centers 15-20 minutes before the given time and provide campaigns on required documentation which are needed for the successful conduct of pro-vaccination (Thomas, Osterholm, and Stauffer, 2021.).

Giving details on the availability of bilinguals so that there will be no miscommunication observed and giving disclosures on free vaccination components is required on the website

“Taking painkillers such as paracetamol before receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent side effects is not recommended as it prevents the vaccine from working well”. People should let the dose do its job naturally.

Conclusion

Vaccinations to protect an entire population from being affected by the disease are important to be processed. The ministry of health needs to address common concerns and communication barriers within common people. Certain measures are undertaken by the government to spread awareness among people As the covid spread is increasing vaccinations are ideal to become protected from this life threat. Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness is promoted via advertisements on TV in airports, railway stations, and Metro. The motto is to conduct camp appropriately and all people become safe and immunized against the deadly virus. The success of the leaflet distribution has managed the objectives successfully for this campaign.

Continue your exploration of Exploration of Transmission Dynamics and Clinical Manifestations with our related content.

References

Journals

Crawshaw, A.F., Deal, A., Rustage, K., Forster, A.S., Campos-Matos, I., Vandrevala, T., Würz, A., Pharris, A., Suk, J.E., Kinsman, J. and Deogan, C., 2021. What must be done to tackle vaccine hesitancy and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in migrants?. Journal of Travel Medicine, 28(4), p.taab048.

Ekezie, W., Czyznikowska, B.M., Rohit, S., Harrison, J., Miah, N., Campbell-Morris, P. and Khunti, K., 2021. The views of ethnic minority and vulnerable communities towards participation in COVID-19 vaccine trials. Journal of Public Health, 43(2), pp.e258-e260.

Etti, M., Fofie, H., Razai, M., Crawshaw, A.F., Hargreaves, S. and Goldsmith, L.P., 2021. Ethnic minority and migrant underrepresentation in Covid-19 research: Causes and solutions. EClinicalMedicine, 36.

Ferdinand, K.C., 2021. Overcoming Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccination in African Americans: The Need for Cultural Humility.

Lin, Y., Hu, Z., Zhao, Q., Alias, H., Danaee, M. and Wong, L.P., 2020. Understanding COVID-19 vaccine demand and hesitancy: A nationwide online survey in China. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 14(12), p.e0008961.

Liu, S. and Liu, J., 2021. Understanding Behavioral Intentions Toward COVID-19 Vaccines: Theory-Based Content Analysis of Tweets. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), p.e28118.

Thomas, C.M., Osterholm, M.T. and Stauffer, W.M., 2021. Critical considerations for COVID-19 vaccination of refugees, immigrants, and migrants. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 104(2), p.433.

Waterman, L.Z., 2021. Cultural competence in vaccine rollout: migrants would face difficulties accessing covid-19 vaccines. bmj, 372.