Vaccination, along with other personal protective measures, is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself and your loved ones from severe COVID-19 outcomes. Increasing and maintaining vaccine confidence plays a critical role in the continued success of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across the country.
Through the Vaccine Community Innovation Challenge (VCIC), the Public Health Agency of Canada provided funding to support community-driven initiatives that help to increase confidence in vaccination. The Challenge empowered trusted community leaders to share credible information on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, and encourage their community members to get informed and take action to protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated.
Today, Ron McKinnon, Member of Parliament for Coquitlam, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, announced that the Fraser Northwest Division of Family Practice Society received the $100,000 VCIC grand prize. Their 'Physician on a Mission' project amplified the voices of family doctors as trusted community members to encourage vaccine uptake using physicians' stories and personal experiences. The project team worked in collaboration with family doctors to develop and promote multilingual videos addressing different areas of hesitation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines.
The VCIC is one of the Government of Canada programs that works to engage community partners and stakeholders to increase vaccine confidence and address barriers to getting vaccinated. This includes the Immunization Partnership Fund, which was launched in 2016 and supports projects to improve access to vaccination and uptake.
