V-PROTECT: CONFIDENCE 

V-Protect: Confidence (Vaccinate to Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Community) is a vaccination confidence and access program aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation through culturally and linguistically appropriate education and outreach. This program covers all vaccination (COVID-19, influenza, maternal and childhood immunization, and other relevant adult vaccines) and is tailored for the Asian, Black, African, and Middle Eastern refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) populations in the Chicago metropolitan area. Materials for this program are available in Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Yoruba, French, and Arabic.

Vaccine Education

Each community receives tailored educational materials based off their specific vaccine-related hesitancies and concerns. All education is in language and culturally adapted to fit the community’s needs. 

This vaccine education takes a holistic approach to addressing vaccine hesitancies by laying a stronger foundation on basic vaccine concepts (I.e., what the immune system is, how vaccines supplement the immune system, how vaccines are made, etc.). This approach helps increase individuals’ overall health literacy and addressing many common vaccine-specific misconceptions. 

Vaccine Access

Vaccine uptake is an important piece of this program. Vaccination occurs through a mix of community-led events and referrals. Community health fairs are encouraged events that allow for a mix of health education and vaccination to occur around various times such as cultural and religious holidays, back-to-school drives, etc. 

community PARTNERS