The most effective way to address vaccine hesitancy is through conversations with trusted peers, according to the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. With these findings, LeadingAge Minnesota has developed a set of resources to help leaders improve staff vaccination acceptance through a new Safe Care for Staff initiative.

We have collected useful tools and resources to guide vaccine hesitancy conversations with an emphasis on peer-to-peer support. 

In addition to the resources, LeadingAge Minnesota is piloting a 45-minute training session for COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassadors this week and will offer a second round of Vaccine Ambassador training in late April. For more information, contact Jenna Kellerman at jkellerman@leadingagemn.org.  

“Regardless of staff vaccination status, it is important that leaders find ways to foster team resilience for everyone as the pandemic continues,” says Dr. Alyson VanAhn, from Associated Clinic of Psychology and lead faculty for the Safe Care for Staff’s COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassador Program.

“Building a non-judgmental culture that is open and accepting of individual decisions can be challenging. Transparent communication about side effects, and the experiences of people who were hesitant then eventually took the vaccine, can reduce fears,” reminds Dr. VanAhn.

To assist you in creating this welcoming environment, here are a few Safe Care for Staff tools from the Vaccine Ambassador program to help, as well as a synopsis of the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) first Vaccine Champions webinar from March 25, 2021.

• Quick Reference Guide for COVID-19 Vaccine Conversations: This 2-page resource summarizes the basics of having a supportive and validating conversation with a person who decided not to get the vaccine yet. It contains tips developed by Alyson VanAhn, Ph.D. LP from Associated Clinic of Psychology, and COVID-19 vaccine facts provided by Simon Mittal, MD, Envisage Health, Inc.
• Implementation plan to support peer-to-peer vaccine conversations ambassador program: Whether or not you choose to sign on to the Safe Care for Staff COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassador program, you can use the four steps outlined in the implementation plan to developing a peer-to-peer vaccine conversation program.

1. Build a team approach to address vaccine hesitancy.
2. Empower and train peers to have COVID-19 vaccine conversations.
3. Establish referral contacts internally so that peers can refer their colleagues to them when out-of-scope questions arise.
4. Communicate ongoing access to vaccines.

• Vaccine hesitancy tools website: The website designed to be used by peers to have COVID-19 conversations includes facts, videos and resources to address major concerns such as safety, religious considerations and explanations in Spanish and Hmong and from the African American cultural perspective.
• Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) LTC Vaccine Champion Webinar Series: MDH is hosting a series of short webinars featuring senior care sites discussing best practices for achieving high staff vaccine rates and sharing their lessons learned.

“People who have decided to not vaccinate often have understandable fear and plenty of misinformation about the shot itself,” reminds Dr. VanAhn. “Questions from colleagues and from residents about whether or not you or your staff have been vaccinated can be a source of stress and add to an already tense work environment.”

The tools presented here focus on how you can embrace the diversity of values that make your organization great —even in the context of vaccine tensions. We are sharing what we know from science in order to address the most common reasons people are hesitant. We hope this will foster resilience by starting a forum for conversations.

To learn more about the Safe Care for Staff COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassador program, contact: Julie Apold; japold@leadingagemn.org.