Telling the Story: Gathering First Nations perspectives of COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment

The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) has been working alongside health system partners to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020. In addition to managing pandemic response, First Nations leadership must attend to complex structural barriers to vaccine uptake and undertake strategies for building vaccine confidence. This research proposal seeks to fill a gap in data that incorporates First Nations ways of knowing as it applies to building vaccine confidence and consolidate effective strategies for increasing vaccination rates among First Nations individuals, families and communities. Informed by a Two-Eyed Seeing approach pairing Indigenous ways of knowing and research design with western behaviour change methods, this project will involve a scoping review, qualitative interviews, and focus group sessions with health care service providers, First Nations leadership and community members. Stories and knowledge gathered will be returned to the individuals and communities who are the rightful owners of that knowledge, and the study's findings will be shared with First Nations leadership to inform decision-making regarding COVID-19 vaccine uptake.