In 2017, to reduce the burden of measles and rubella, a nation-wide measles-rubella campaign was launched in India. Despite detailed planning efforts that involved many stakeholders, vaccine refusal arose in several communities during the campaign. As strategic health communication and promotion is critical in any vaccine campaign, we sought to document lessons learned from the 2017 MR campaign from a strategic health communication and promotion perspective to capture lessons learned. To inform future campaigns, we conducted in-depth interviews through a perspective that is not usually captured, that of government and civil society stakeholders that had experience in vaccine campaign implementation (n = 21). We interviewed stakeholders at the national level and within three states that had diverse experiences with the campaign. Three key themes related to strategic health communication and promotion emerged: the importance of sensitizing communities at all levels through relevant and timely information about the vaccine and the vaccine campaign, leveraging key influencers to deliver tailored messaging about the importance of vaccines and mitigating vaccine misinformation rapidly. Our study findings have important implications for health communication and promotion research related to vaccine campaigns. The field must continue to enhance vaccine campaign efforts by identifying important health communication and promotion factors, including the importance of sensitization, trusted messengers that use tailored messaging and mitigating misinformation, as vaccine campaigns are crucial in improving vaccine acceptance.
Keywords: India; measles–rubella vaccine; vaccine campaign; vaccine hesitancy; vaccine sentiment.
Measles and rubella are diseases that cause sickness and death. Both are preventable as there are safe and effective vaccines available. Measles and rubella are significant in India. These vaccines are generally delivered to the public through vaccine campaigns. A measles–rubella vaccine campaign was implemented in 2017. In this study, we interviewed 21 government and civil society stakeholders that are involved in vaccine campaigns in India to capture lessons learned. We were interested in understanding how vaccine campaigns could be improved through health communication and promotion efforts. Stakeholders suggested to use trusted community members to inform people about the vaccine campaign, and that it was important for trusted community leaders to dispel rumors about vaccines quickly. To increase vaccine acceptance, it is critical that health communication and promotion efforts target concerns that people may have about the vaccine as well as the vaccine campaign.
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