Supporting US Healthcare Providers for Successful Vaccine Communication

Background: While many healthcare providers (HCPs) have navigated patients’ vaccine concerns and questions prior to the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, sentiments surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines have presented new and distinct challenges. Objective To understand the provider experience of counseling patients about COVID19 vaccinations, aspects of the pandemic environment that impacted vaccine trust and communication strategies providers found supportive of patient vaccine education. Methods 7 focus groups of healthcare providers were conducted and recorded during December 2021 and January 2022, at the height of the Omicron wave in the United States. Recordings were transcribed, and iterative coding and analysis was applied. Results 44 focus group participants representing 24 US states with the majority (80%) fully vaccinated at the time of data collection. Most participants were doctors (34%) or physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners (34%). The impact of COVID-19 misinformation on patient-provider communication at both intrapersonal and interpersonal levels as well as barriers and facilitators to patient vaccine uptake are reported; messengers and messages that promote or combat misinformation are described. Providers expressed frustration in addressing vaccine hesitancy among patients who remained unvaccinated. Many valued resources providing up-to-date and evidence-based information as COVID-19 guidelines continued to change. Additionally, providers indicated that patient-facing materials were the most helpful in navigating a changing information environment and underscored that these were not frequently available. Conclusions To strengthen provider vaccine communication and promote vaccine uptake, a supportive communication infrastructure must be sustained around the patient-provider dyad. The findings provide recommendations to sustain an environment that supports provider-patient communication at the community, organizational and policy levels. There is a need for a unified multisectoral response to reinforce the recommendations in patient settings.