Rapid Translation of Vaccine Hesitancy Data into Real-Time Guidance for Health Care Facilities

A Rani Elwy, PhD
Brown University

ABSTRACT:
Objective. To rapidly assess Veteran Health Administration employees’ and Veterans’ perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines and help leadership increase vaccine acceptance.

Data sources. 63 interviews with employees and Veterans (January-May 2021), and a cross-sectional survey of 1,178 Veterans across the United States (March 12-28, 2021).

Study Design. The quality improvement project involved concurrent mixed methods. Our embedded Rapid Response Team designed the project for dissemination, using a variety of strategies, to share ongoing results with VHA and Veteran leaders.

Data Collection/Extraction methods. We used directed content analysis to analyze interview data. Bivariate analyses tested for associations between vaccine intention groups (definitely will not, probably will not, not sure, probably will, definitely will), health outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics. Using mixed methods, we combined data to classify reasons for vaccine hesitancy into five categories: deliberation, dissent, distrust, indifference and skepticism. We identified trusted sources of information, and preferred modes of communication among different intention groups.

Principal Findings. Those unsure of COVID-19 vaccination were more likely to report fair or poor overall health, and to primarily report concerns about vaccine side effects, preference for natural immunity and less medicine use (vaccine skepticism). Reasons for getting vaccinated included the impact of COVID-19 on family, society and one’s own health. Disseminating results through frequent briefings, infographics, and Q&A sessions with VHA national, regional and local leaders, and Veteran Stakeholder Councils, we identified a need for action to turn hesitancy into acceptance. We collaboratively developed a 3-step communication plan for facilities to enable vaccine conversations in innovative ways, and submitted this to the VHA Innovation Ecosystem for further dissemination among VHA facilities.

Conclusions. Generating rapid, real-time evidence from Veterans and employees on their vaccine hesitancy was possible due to VHA partnerships. Data informed strategies for increasing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance that can be tailored to each facility’s needs.

What Does it Take to Center Anti-Racist Research in Policy and Practice?

Lauren Supplee, Ph.D.
William T. Grant Foundation

Fabienne Doucet, Ph.D.
William T. Grant Foundation

ABSTRACT:
Presentation will briefly share what the field has learned to date about how research evidence is used in policy and practice. The presentation will then look at this field within a critical race perspective to ask different questions and take new perspectives. How can we create more useful antiracist research and study URE with a critical perspective? What new methods are needed to create more useful antiracist research
http://wtgrantfoundation.org/digest/centering-the-margins-redefining-useful-research-evidence-through-critical-perspectives 

http://wtgrantfoundation.org/digest/identifying-and-testing-strategies-to-improve-the-use-of-antiracist-research-evidence-through-critical-race-lenses

Agent-based Modeling of COVID-19 to Support Public Health Decision Making

Jonathan Ozik, Ph.D.
The University of Chicago

Anna Hotton, Ph.D., MPH, BS
The University of Chicago

ABSTRACT:
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for detailed modeling approaches that can capture the myriad complexities of emerging infectious diseases. In response, our group has developed CityCOVID, an agent-based model capable of tracking COVID-19 transmission in large, urban areas. Through partnerships between Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, the Chicago Department of Public Health, and the Illinois COVID-19 Modeling Task Force we combined multiple data sources to develop a locally informed, realistic, and statistically representative synthetic agent population, with attributes and processes that reflect real-world social and biomedical aspects of transmission. We model all 2.7 million individual residents of Chicago, as they go to and from 1.2 million different places according to their individual hourly schedules. The places include locations such as households, workplaces, schools, and hospitals, and, as individuals congregate with other individuals in these places over the course of their daily routines, they are exposed to potential infection from other infectious people who are also at those places. Transitions between disease states depend on agent attributes and exposure to infected individuals, placed-based risks, and protective behaviors. This detailed modeling approach allows us to implement very specific and realistic mitigation strategies that are being considered by stakeholders, and which have been evolving over the course of the pandemic. We continue to apply CityCOVID to examine the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, vaccination deployment strategies, and to understand the impacts of social determinants of health on disease outcomes. In this presentation we will describe CityCOVID, including how the synthetic population was developed, what agent-based modeling and high-performance computing technologies were required, and our efforts in supporting local public health stakeholders in understanding, responding to and planning for the current and future population health emergencies.

Vaccine equity: What we know and what we need to do and how implementation research can help

Lisa Hirschhorn, MD, MPH
Northwestern University

Rebecca Weintraub, MD
Harvard University

ABSTRACT:
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the spotlight on inequities in health care access and outcomes. While the rapid development of highly effective vaccines offers the opportunity to end the pandemic, the concerns, and emerging evidence in inequity to access as well as acceptability threatens to increase these disparities. Implementation research offers tools and approaches to help understand underlying determinants and inform strategies that need to be put into place to prevent worsening of the existing inequity.

To request Dr. Hirschhorn and Dr. Weintraub’s powerpoint slides, please email psmg@northwestern.edu

Can understanding vitamin D deficiency and supplementation inform efforts to reduce the incidence and burden of COVID-19 and future pandemics?

David Meltzer, Ph.D.
The University of Chicago

Robert Gibbons, Ph.D.
The University of Chicago

ABSTRACT:
Vitamin D is a hormone that has well known roles in bone health and lesser appreciated and well understood roles in the immune system. This talk will review existing evidence on the role of vitamin D in affecting the immune system with a focus on its role in viral respiratory infections and COVID-19 in particular. The talk will review new findings from several observational analyses examining the association of vitamin D with COVID-19 risk and influenza risk. It will also describe early findings and rationale for 3 clinical studies of vitamin D and COVID-19 risk that are now in progress.