Gagandeep Kang, MD, PhD, FRCPath, FAAM, FASc, FNASc, FNA, FFPH, FRS

Sabin Social & Behavioral Research Project

Building Vaccine Confidence Among Accredited Social Health Activists

In 2019, Dr. Kang and team were awarded Sabin’s Social and Behavioral Research Grant to explore building vaccine confidence among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to address vaccine hesitancy and accelerate the uptake of childhood immunization. They assessed the level of vaccine hesitancy in Nuh district of Haryana where immunization coverage was known to be far below the national average. Levels of hesitancy were assessed in association with perceptions about vaccines among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). The team implemented an intervention designed to address the communication and capacity-building needs of ASHAs.

“For health workers to believe in vaccines is really important and through this project, what we are hoping to do is to understand what frontline health workers think about vaccinations, what their belief systems are, so that we can make sure that we can devise interventions that improve confidence in vaccines across all aspects of health systems.”