Developing the VACCINE (VACine Confidence and ImmuNization Education) Checklist to support COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake among workers in long-term care

High levels of vaccine hesitancy among long-term care (LTC) workers, who are among the first to be vaccinated, has been observed globally. Despite a growing understanding of the factors affecting vaccine confidence among healthcare workers and a wide range of tools developed, few have been evaluated for their efficacy in promoting vaccine uptake in this population. This project will leverage the nine behavioural science principles outlined by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table to develop a VACCINE (VACine Confidence and ImmuNization Education) Checklist to support COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake among LTC workers. We will leverage and assess current efforts to build vaccine confidence and contribute to the future development of high-quality educational tools for COVID-19 and other vaccines. Our goals are to: (1) Develop a checklist to guide the development of vaccine confidence and immunization education programs, called VACCINE, that can assess the quality of educational tools and strategies; (2) Conduct an environmental scan for COVID-19 vaccine education strategies directed at LTC and other healthcare workers. We will identify barriers between knowledge creation and knowledge use, and compile a list of measurable outcomes to be considered for future evaluation of vaccine education strategies; (3) Assess the attributes of existing educational tools and initiatives targeting vaccine confidence against the VACCINE Checklist; (4) Select, tailor and implement appropriate educational strategies to address vaccine hesitancy and boost vaccine confidence within the LTC sector. These will be co-designed with Nurse Practitioner-Led Outreach Teams (NLOTs) and LTC homes and tailored to meet the needs of their specific workforce population, culture and context; and (5) Monitor and enhance knowledge uptake using a developmental evaluation process to enable continuous improvement in the implementation of educational strategies.