We can all agree that all healthcare professionals across Europe shoud be equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to be able to adequately inform their patients. The survey conducted by IMMUNION showed that the majority of healthcare professionals are willing to follow extra courses on vaccination if they were provided, preferably in an online format.
At the same time, the IMMUNION survey results also reveal that healthcare professionals use various sources to look for information on vaccines. Among these, sources provided by healthcare professional organisations were seen as one of the most preferred and trusted.
As the Coalition for Vaccination brings together European associations of healthcare professionals and relevant student associations in the field, our website has a great potential to reach different healthcare professionals and increase their knowledge on vaccination. We aim to provide invaluable support via our website which will serve as a gateway to training materials on vaccine communication, vaccine safety, fighting misinformation, and other critical topics that will increase the confidence of healthcare professionals when it comes to talking about vaccines with patients, parents, and the general public.
When asked about what they would like to see on our website, survey respondents highlighted the need for it to provide educational materials such as explanatory videos, fact sheets, short articles, scientific publications, FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) pages, webinars, and recorded lectures. These materials should address questions related to vaccine safety, adverse events and the side effects of vaccines, as well as their effectiveness and working mechanisms. The survey results indicate that these are the most frequent questions respondents received in the past year. In addition, healthcare professionals also received questions on national and regional vaccination schedules, specific vaccines, and catch-up vaccinations. With regards to vaccine specific questions, the vast majority of responses were related to COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.
Moreover, the survey respondents emphasised that training materials should generally take a positive approach and highlight the benefits and effectiveness of vaccines.
We are happy to report that 3,300 healthcare professionals across Europe responded to the survey, with a high share of respondents from countries involved in the IMMUNION project, such as Romania and Greece. The results will be taken into account when further developing the Coalition for Vaccination website, as well as the SEKI (Strengthening Education and Knowledge on Immunisation), which will provide traning material for healthcare professionals and will be featured on the Coalition website.
Click here to read the full report.