March 1, 2022
Day 1
SESSION I
08:00 – 09:30 EST
Welcome & Keynote Address
Welcoming Remarks – Stacey Knobler, MSc, Vice President, Vaccine Innovation & Global Immunization, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Introduction of the VARN: Goals & Objectives – Dr. Kate Hopkins, PhD, MPH, Director of Research, Vaccine Acceptance & Demand, Sabin Vaccine Institute; & Dr. Ève Dubé, PhD, Quebec National Institute of Public Health, Canada
Keynote Address – Robert Kanwagi, MPH, Consultant for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – Demand Generation For COVAX: Understanding Vaccine Acceptance: Why It Matters, How It’s Differentiated And Key Drivers
Keynote Discussion Panel, 30 minutes – Dr. Ève Dubé, PhD, Moderator
- Robert Kanwagi, MPH, Consultant for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – Demand Generation for COVAX
- Dr. Holly Seale PhD MPH, School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Australia
- Dr. Abdul Momin Kazi, MBBS, MPH, Aga Khan University Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Pakistan
- Dr. Mónica Berger González, PhD, Unit of Medical Anthropology in the Center for Health Studies at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
SESSION II
15:00 – 16:30 EST
One Size Does Not Fit All:
Indicators of Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake from around the Globe
Moderator: Dr. Holly Seale, PhD, MPH, School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr. Ève Dubé, PhD – Quebec National Institute of Public Health, Canada: COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Quebec, Canada: Findings of Repeated Surveys Conducted Across 5 Waves
Philip Wollburg, MSc – Data Production and Methods Unit, World Bank: Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccination in Africa
Dr. Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, PhD, MA – Yale University School of Management, USA: Last-Mile Delivery of COVID vaccines: Field Trials in Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, and India
- Niccoló F. Meriggi, MSc, International Growth Centre Sierra Leone, will join us on the live panel on behalf of Dr. Mobarak
Lisa Menning, MSc – WHO Headquarters Department of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals: The WHO Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) Framework
Helena Ballester Bon, MA – UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Social and Behavior Change Section: Measuring BeSD of COVID-19 Vaccination, UNICEF Application of Globally Standardized Data Collection Tools in Eastern and Southern Africa
Claire Thomas, BSc – Minority Rights Group International: Disparities in Access to Routine Childhood Vaccinations: Investigating Correlations with Diversity of Ethnicity, Language and Religion
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
SESSION III
20:00 – 21:30 EST
Harnessing Social Media for Public Good:
Lessons Learned from Social Listening on Social Media/Messaging
Moderator: Dr. Margie Danchin, MBBS, PhD, University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, Australia
Dr. Daniel Erchick, PhD, MPH – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: What Message Appeals Are Most Persuasive To Nudge Vaccine-Hesitant Individuals To Accept A Vaccine? Pilot Message Testing in Kenya, India, Ukraine, Nepal
Dr. Rajiv Rimal, PhD, MA – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: Promoting the Second Dose of the Covid-19 Vaccine in Odisha, India: The Role of Humor, Collectivistic Appeal, and Gender
Dr. Silvia Sommariva, PhD – UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Social and Behavior Change: Online Conversations on COVID-19 Vaccines in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Longitudinal Analysis of Social Listening Data
Jeff Mulhausen, BS – Upstream Thinking: Redirecting Existing Demand for Information Towards Vaccine Confident Interpretation By Identifying Online Behavioral Nudge Interventions
Rose Weeks, MPH – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: Building Rapport and Credibility with an AI Chatbot
Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev MBBS, PhD, MPH – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: Supporting Immunization Systems Through Chatbot-Powered Social Listening
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
March 2, 2022
Day 2
SESSION I
05:00 – 06:30 EST
Fighting the Infodemic:
Frameworks, Training and Science-based Gaming
Moderator –Dr. Abdul Momin Kazi, MBBS, MPH, Aga Khan University Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Pakistan
Tina Purnat, MS – World Health Organization Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention: WHO Preparedness and Prevention of Infodemic Harms: Infodemic Management Training Programme and Inoculation Innovations
Alexandra Michel, MPH – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: How Does Training Focused on Equipping Individuals with Skills To Identify and Reject Vaccine Misinformation Affect Vaccine Information Seeking?
Dr. John Cook, PhD – Monash University Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Australia: Using Gamification To Combat Misinformation: Cranky Uncle, Vaccine Module
Dr. David Scales, MD, PhD – Weill Cornell Medicine Division of Hospital Medicine, USA: Evaluation of a Geographic, Community-Focused Infodemiology Intervention Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Social Media Using an Implementation Science Framework
Moderated Discussion, 20 minutes
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
SESSION II
09:00 – 10:30 EST
Cross Pollination and Translational Research:
Moving Findings into Policy & Practice
Moderator – Nalini Anand, JD, MPH, Fogarty International Center, U.S. National Institutes of Health
Dr. Rajeev Seth, MD, MBBS – Bal Umang Drishya Sanstha (BUDS), India: Translating BUDS Findings Into Local Policy and Advocacy
Ashima Gulati, B.A., LLB (Hons.) and Avani Airan, B.A., LLB (Hons.) – #HumHongeKaamayaab, India: Vaccination Uptake in Marginalised Communities in India: An Analysis of Government and Civil Society Interventions to Address the Gender and Economic Divide in Accessing Free COVID-19 Vaccines
Dr. Janan Dietrich, PhD – Bio-Behavioural Research Division Perinatal HIV Research Unit, South Africa: Translating lessons of HIV vaccine acceptance to COVID-19 vaccines among youth in South Africa
Dr. Corrina Moucheraud, ScD, MPH – University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, USA: Barriers Towards HPV Vaccine Acceptance in Malawi
Dr. Susanne B Montgomery, PhD, MPH, MS – Loma Linda University School of Behavioral Health, USA: The Community Resiliency Model and How It Could Translate to Combatting Vaccine Hesitancy in Sierra Leone and Beyond
Dr. Rupali Limaye, PhD, MPH, MA – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: What Can We Learn from Climate Change Misinformation to Inform Vaccine Hesitancy Strategies?
Moderated Discussion, 20 minutes
SESSION III
13:00 – 14:30 EST
Boosting Vaccination Rates:
Efficiently Informing Mass Vaccination Campaigns
Moderator – Dr. Wahdae-Mai Harmon-Gray, MD, MSc, University of Liberia College of Health Sciences
Dr. Dena Gromet, PhD – University of Pennsylvania Behavior Change for Good Initiative: Behaviour Change for Good: Effective Strategies to Boost Vaccination Rates
Sunny Sharma, MSc – Ipsos MORI: Using Attitudinal Segmentation to Support Public Health Initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa: Case studies in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia
Kenneth Davis, MA – Fraym: Using Geomapping Data Analytics to Assist Governments in Tailoring Mass Vaccination Campaigns
Dr. Ruth Carlitz, PhD – Tulane University, Department of Political Science, USA and Dr. Thespina Yamanis, PhD, MPH, American University, School of International Service, USA: Challenges to and Opportunities for Rolling Out the COVID-19 Vaccine in Tanzania
Sofia Imad, MPH – Artha Global, India: Vaccine Acceptance in Urban Slum Communities in Maharashtra
Moderated Discussion, 20 minutes
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
March 3, 2022
Day 3
SESSION I
08:00 – 10:00 EST
One Size Does Not Fit All
Community-centric Approaches to Promote Vaccine Acceptance & Uptake
Moderator – Dr. Chizoba Wonodi, MBBS, DrPH, MPH, Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA), Nigeria
Baldeep Dhaliwal, MSPH – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA: Establishing an Understanding of Community-Level Misinformation and the Role of Community Health Workers in Vaccine Acceptance in India
Rubina Qasim, MSc – Institute of Nursing, Dow University of Health Sciences, Pakistan: Using a Co-Design Approach in Designing and Testing Socio-Behavioural Interventions To Counter COVID-19 Related Misinformation and Its Impact on Potential COVID-19 Vaccination in Karachi, Pakistan
Dr. Freddy Kitutu, PhD, MPH, MA, School of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda: Using Community Influencer Groups to Address COVID-19 Misinformation and Vaccine Hesitancy in Buikwe, Uganda
Dr. Benson Wamalwa, PhD, MSc & Dr. Caroline Aura, PhD, University of Nairobi, Kenya: A Community-led Virtual Intervention to Mitigate COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Kenya
Dr. Abdul Momin Kazi, MBBS, MPH – Aga Khan University Department of Pediatrics and Child Health in Karachi: To Explore the Role of mHealth Based Interventions Including Social Media to Improve Childhood Immunization Coverage During COVID 19 Pandemic in Pakistan
Dr. Nadine Skinner, PhD, MPA – Stanford Center for Health Education, Digital Medic, USA and Anne Kraemer Diaz, MA, Maya Health Alliance: Understanding Vaccine Acceptance in Indigenous Populations in Southern Guatemala
Dr. Nadia Diamond-Smith, PhD, MSc, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics and Institute for Global health Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, USA and Dr. Preetika Sharma, PhD, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research: Why are Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women in Rural India who Want the COVID-19 Vaccine Not Getting Vaccinated?
Moderated Discussion, 20 minutes
Moderated Audience Q&A, 20 minutes
SESSION II
13:00 – 14:30 EST
Technical Working Group Breakout Sessions
Brief Introduction to the Technical Working Groups by Dr. Kate Hopkins, PhD, MPH, Director of Research, Vaccine Acceptance & Demand, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Technical Working Group Breakout Sessions:
1. Community-Centric Methods to Support Marginalized & Hard-to-Reach Populations
Co-Chairs: Dr. Ève Dubé, PhD, Medical Anthropologist, Quebec National Institute of Public Health, VARN Chair & Robert Kanwagi, MPH, Consultant for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – Demand Generation for COVAX
2. Fighting the infodemic & Harnessing Social Media for Good
Co-Chairs: Dr. Rupali Limaye, PhD, MPH, MA, Associate Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health & Dr. Angus Thomson, PhD, Senior Social Scientist, Consultant for UNICEF – Demand for Immunization
3. Data Integrity & the Evaluation of Best Practices
Co-Chairs: Sunny Sharma, MSc, Director of Global Health, Ipsos MORI & Dr. Kennedy Otwombe, PhD, Director of Statistics, Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
4. Supporting Communities of Practice Networks and Platforms
Co-Chairs: Stacey Knobler, MSc, Vice President of Vaccine Innovation and Global Immunization, Sabin Vaccine Institute & Dr. Anant Bhan, MBBS, MHSc, Department of Community Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College and the Centre for Ethics, Yenepoya University, Mangalore
Working groups will be conducted in English only, no interpretation is available
SESSION III
23:00 – 00:30 EST
Closing Session
Moderator – Dr. Kate Hopkins, PhD, MPH, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Read-out from Working Groups
Baldeep Dhaliwal, MSPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Community-Centric Methods to Support Marginalized & Hard-to-Reach Populations
Rubina Qasim, MSc, Institute of Nursing, Dow University of Health Sciences, Pakistan: Fighting the Infodemic & Harnessing Social Media for Good
Dr. Theresa Sommers, PhD, MPH, Sabin Vaccine Institute: Data Integrity & Evaluation of Best Practices
Dr. Anant Bhan, MBBS, MHSc, Department of Community Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College and the Centre for Ethics, Yenepoya University, Mangalore: Supporting Communities of Practice Networks & Platforms
Highlights & Closing Remarks: Stacey Knobler, MSc, Sabin Vaccine Institute