The Lucid Group Award for Excellence in Public Health Communications

Summary of work

COVID-19 and confidence in vaccine uptake has been low amongst the Black African and Black Caribbean as well as deprived communities in south east London. In-depth local research revealed vaccine-hesitant people had genuine questions about the vaccines – and misinformation on social media was filling the void. The research showed that national COVID vaccine campaigns were not resonating with Black communities in south east London, with complex issues of trust in the government and politicians another factor.

For this reason, Vaccine Facts was created. It was a locallydriven campaign featuring medics, people and medical students. A Vaccine Facts website and multichannel targeted campaign was launched by Our Healthier South East London Integrated Care System to increase confidence in the COVID vaccines. Successful engagement with the campaign has since seen NHSE/I London adapt the website for use for the whole of London.

Before the campaign, 77% of respondents were vaccinated, which rose to 87% after the campaign and Black, Asian and minority ethnic increased from 64% to 83% vaccinated. A pre- and post-survey of 650 residents found that one in four black and minority ethnic respondents were resistant to having the COVID vaccine before the campaign (24%) – falling significantly to 14% afterwards.

Judges' comments

Strong data was included in this entry. The judges thought the challenging topic around vaccine hesitancy in certain communities was broached well with great strategy involved. It was refreshing to see an entry use real faces in the campaign as opposed to stock photography.