Coronavax: preparing community and government for COVID-19 vaccination: a research protocol for a mixed methods social research project

Abstract

IntroductionAhead of the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination programme, the interdisciplinary Coronavax research team developed a multicomponent mixed methods project to support successful roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in Western Australia. This project seeks to analyse community attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination, vaccine access and information needs. We also study how government incorporates research findings into the vaccination programme.Methods and analysisThe Coronavax protocol employs an analytical social media study, and a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with purposively selected community groups. Participant groups currently include healthcare workers, aged care workers, first responders, adults aged 65+ years, adults aged 30–64 years, young adults aged 18–29 years, education workers, parents/guardians of infants and young children (<5 years), parents/guardians of children aged 5–18 years with comorbidities and parents/guardians who are hesitant about routine childhood vaccines. The project also includes two studies that track how Australian state and Commonwealth (federal) governments use the study findings. These are functional dialogues (translation and discussion exercises that are recorded and analysed) and evidence mapping of networks within government (which track how study findings are used).Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been granted by the Child and Adolescent Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and the University of Western Australia HREC. Study findings will be disseminated by a series of journal articles, reports to funders and stakeholders, and invited and peer-reviewed presentations.

Western Australian health care workers’ views on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for the workplace

“…Detailed methods for the Coronavax study have previously been published in the study's open access protocol. [44] In brief, recruitment of WA-based HCWs commenced in February 2021 when the project's data collection phase began, using media promotion, word-of-mouth and snowballing. Interested individuals signed up via an online REDCap ([ 44 , 45 ]) survey, which collected demographic data and contact details.…”

“… [44] In brief, recruitment of WA-based HCWs commenced in February 2021 when the project's data collection phase began, using media promotion, word-of-mouth and snowballing. Interested individuals signed up via an online REDCap ([ 44 , 45 ]) survey, which collected demographic data and contact details. Prospective participants identifying as working in “health care and social assistance,” were contacted up to three times each by telephone and / or email to organise a face-to-face or telephone interview.…”

“…All interviews followed a semi-structured guide which included questions about attitudes towards different types of potential mandatory vaccination policies, including the circumstances in which participants would support them, and participants’ perspectives regarding the types of exemption categories that should be available (see detailed question guide in protocol) [44] . Additional questions for HCWs further addressed COVID-19 mandates that would affect them in their employment.…”

‘Corona is coming’: COVID‐19 vaccination perspectives and experiences amongst Culturally and Linguistically Diverse West Australians

“…Coronavax was initiated in April 2020 with the aim of ascertaining community attitudes towards vaccination and vaccine access in WA through a series of qualitative interviews with segmented population groups. A key aspect of the project involved translating findings to the state and federal governments in real‐time via Functional Dialogues, a novel formal research exchange mechanism in which data on community attitudes are presented to government officials, who then contribute their own reflections and experiences as additional research data (not reported here) 12 . Coronavax received ethics approval from the Child and Adolescent Services (CAHS) Human Research Ethics Committee (RGS0000004457).…”

How Vaccination Rumours Spread Online: Tracing the Dissemination of Information Regarding Adverse Events of COVID-19 Vaccines

“…We used social network analysis and digital trace data to examine the origin and spread of rumours about adverse events following COVID-19 vaccinations, presented as narrative case studies. This study sits within “Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government,” which seeks to uncover the conditions for a successful vaccination program in Western Australia [ 6 ].…”