Engaging with antenatal care providers to conduct vaccination counselling with expectant mothers

Vaccination is a powerful public health tool that reduces the global burden of disease immensely and saves 2-3 million lives a year. Vaccination coverage in Switzerland can be improved, yet only providing the correct information to the population will not be sufficient to achieve this. As the reasons for not vaccinating are multifaceted, we need evidence-based approaches that are empirically driven. Designing and implementing an intervention strategy tailored to the Swiss heterogeneity of vaccination beliefs and values can contribute to strengthening parental understanding and Swiss vaccination coverage. The aim of this research-cum-action project is to design a tailored communication tool that aligns with the goals of Swiss National Vaccination Strategy to support vaccine coverage. This project has three objectives: I) to strengthen the empirical evidence in Switzerland around the driving factors that determine vaccine uptake and local values II) design and implement an evidence-based communication tool III) measure the impact of the communication intervention. Based on current evidence, health care providers (HCPs) are the most important parental resource for vaccination information and determinate of vaccine confidence. In the current literature on strengthening vaccine coverage, there has been a call to better support HCPs in vaccine-related communication. Therefore, this research-cum-action project will generate a multimedia tool to support antenatal care providers to conduct vaccine counseling with pregnant women.