Session 5: How to Build, Maintain and Strengthen Trust During COVID-19

Public trust in vaccines is essential to the success of COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns, as greater public trust increases vaccine acceptance and demand. Trust, as defined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, is one’s belief that another person or institution will act in accordance with one’s expectations of positive behavior by others. Moreover, trust in vaccination, public confidence in the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines and the competence and reliability of the institutions that deliver them, will likely shape confidence in other vaccines making it even more important to build confidence at this time.

To dive deeper into these challenges, Boost hosted the fifth session of the COVID-19 Listening and Learning Series on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. This was a special session by Boost Members, for Boost Members, as we were joined by a panel of Boost members explored lessons learned related to their experiences with building public trust for COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

Throughout this session, these Boost members explored instilling public confidence for COVID-19 vaccines in their own context, discussed challenges and successes related to community engagement and vaccine delivery and tapped into what it will take to achieve trust in COVID-19 vaccine efforts.