Rebuilding Public Trust in Routine Immunizations in the Philippines Through Strategic Digital Partnership

Abstract for Preformed Panel Presentation from the 2022 International SBCC Summit in Morocco:

"Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have seen declines in routine immunization coverage worldwide, with some countries experiencing a loss of a decade in improvements. In nations already experiencing decays in childhood RI coverage, such a downturn could result in outbreaks of vaccine preventable disease. Since 2016, the Philippines has witnessed steady declines in full routine immunization coverage, which is often attributed to the Dengvaxia controversy which eroded public trust in childhood vaccines in the Philippines. Dengvaxia, a dengue fever vaccine, was found to increase the risk of disease severity for some people who had received it. This finding has heightened public concerns about vaccine safety and increased vaccine hesitancy in the region. This study was undertaken to see whether public trust and attitudes towards safety and efficacy of childhood vaccines could be improved through strategic digital communication via UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund]. The study team designed and tested five strategic messaging campaigns - four in Filipino, one in English - featuring: information, self-efficacy, values-based message framing, and photographic testimonials from parents and healthcare workers. Campaigns targeted Facebook users aged 18-55 years old in a brand lift study, a 5-item survey administered to those who were exposed to the campaigns (intervention) or not (control). Campaigns had differential lift, with values-based messaging, self-efficacy, and testimonial content performing strongly. Collectively, the campaigns reached 9.5M Facebook users on average, with 340,457 clicks for additional vaccine information. These findings highlight the potential for designing effective digital content to strengthen vaccine confidence."