Communities Confronting COVID-19

The UWPRC is joining the national COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Network to build trust and promote vaccine confidence among families. Our project team is led by Dr. Susan Passmore (Collaborative Center for Health Equity) and includes, Dr. Malia Jones (UW Applied Population Laboratory and Dear Pandemic), Dr. Andy Garbacz (Department of Educational Psychology), and Dr. Sijia Yang (School of Journalism and Mass Communication). Mahima Bhattar is the Project Manager. The goal is to identify key behavioral insights that will inform effective solutions to increase confidence in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, and ultimately uptake.

As COVID-19 vaccines continue to roll out, high uptake of the vaccines is necessary to reduce the burden of disease and control the pandemic. To ensure high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, communities need to have:

1) Sufficient confidence in the vaccines
2) Healthcare professionals who administer vaccines
3) The public health system that authorizes/approves, recommends, and monitors vaccines.

Promoting confidence in vaccines will require more than messages. With this project we will seek to build trust and confidence among Wisconsin’s rural families with children. We are collaborating with partners that have considerable relationship and reach in the rural communities, including: Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Programs (SWCAP), the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association (WPHCA), and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Immunization Program. Dear, Pandemic, is an additional collaborator that produces accessible, credible, and timely information about COVID-19, vaccines, and vaccination.

Working in close collaboration with our community partners, we will use existing data to co-design messages to be used in social media, community education, and a provider toolkit.

Project Team

Susan Passmore, PhD

Position title: Affiliate Faculty

Elizabeth Cox, MD, PhD

Position title: Center Director

Mahima Bhattar

Position title: Project Manager

Yahvi Mahendra

Position title: Undergraduate Assistant

Malia Jones, PhD, MPH

Position title: Affiliate Faculty

Andy Garbacz, PhD, MA

Position title: Affiliate Faculty

Sijia Yang, PhD, MA

Position title: Affiliate Faculty