A Framework for COVID-19 Vaccine Messaging for Leaders Across Sectors

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Patricia Stinchfield, the president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), on a report NFID recently released detailing a recommended framework for vaccine messaging to help leaders across sectors develop and implement communications that promote vaccine acceptance and encourage the public to follow evidence-based COVID-19 prevention measures.

The discussion also included some of the general recommendations around the framework for vaccine messaging detailed in the report, why this report was important to publish now, what the report is based on, why it is important to engage all sectors to be a part of the solution around vaccine messaging, and what some of the communication strategies detailed in the report are that would apply to pharmacists and those in the pharmacy field.

Stinchfield explained that for many across the country, pharmacists are the primary health care professional they see with regularity.

“That's who they're going to go and ask questions to down at the corner, who they see regularly as their trusted source of information. We had pharmacists as part of the development of this project,” Stinchfield said. “They counter misinformation and act as that person that is there to listen and answer questions. So, it's an already established relationship that I think is really an important part of helping us get out of this pandemic together.”

The discussion also addressed any lessons that have been learned from prior messaging strategies around vaccines, as well as the value of the pharmacist in promoting vaccine acceptance in communities.