Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine: Messages that Move the Needle w/ Parents of Children Ages 5 - 11
This post is shared with permission from Gina Derickson, VP of Research and Consulting at Lillian Labs and Dialsmith. Gina collaborated with Boost Oregon to develop informed messaging about COVID-19 vaccines.
While some parents raced to be first in line to get their 5 – 11 year-olds vaccinated, others have refused the vaccine for themselves and are very likely to refuse it for their children. In the middle, is a group of parents we describe as being “tentative” or “nervous” about getting their child(ren) vaccinated against COVID-19. This middle group was the focus of a recent, nation-wide messaging study we conducted in partnership with Boost Oregon.
The study included surveying 230 tentative/nervous parents online, asking them questions to better understand their barriers to getting their children vaccinated. We also used dial testing to gather second-by-second feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of five, distinct message themes focused on getting children vaccinated against COVID-19. Finally, we followed up with a small group of those parents through webcam, in-depth interviews to dig deeper into their emotions and motivations.
Here are some of the key takeaways we learned:
THIS DECISION IS A REALLY BIG DEAL FOR THESE PARENTS
We heard this loud and clear from the parents in our study over and over again. This is a heavy decision for these parents, many of whom do not feel that they have clear direction on what is the best path to protect their children. Uncertainty about the safety of the vaccine given its relative newness and emergency authorization status as well as the perception of a lack of full endorsement from their pediatrician are contributing to the uncertainty. Additionally, parents who want to include their children (especially the older ones) in the decision feel like they’re either getting a hard push to vaccinate because their child has unrealistic expectations that their life will return to normal as soon as they are fully vaccinated or they’re getting a hard push back against vaccinating because their child simply doesn’t like getting shots.
ALL OF THE MESSAGE THEMES WE TESTED WERE IMPACTFUL
With regard to messaging, we tested five distinct themes: 1) the physical risks of COVID-19; 2) the emotional and psychological risks of COVID-19; 3) the benefits of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccines to children and families; 4) the benefits of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to communities; and 5) the safety and effectiveness of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine.
We went into the study thinking one or two of the message themes we tested would stand out with parents. But what we learned was that all five scored well and resonated with our study group. Parents really benefitted from hearing all of these messages.
PARENTS WANT TO HEAR THE VACCINE IS “SAFE AND EFFECTIVE”
The dial testing evaluations allowed us to evaluate messaging feedback on a very granular level, so we also were able to see that parents responded very positively to the descriptor, “safe and effective” when used in conjunction with the pediatric vaccine. In two separate messages, we saw the dial lines dramatically go up (indicating that parents are more likely to have their child vaccinated) when they heard those words used to describe the vaccine.
PARENTS WANT TO BE ASSURED THE VACCINE WILL WORK FOR THEIR CHILD (NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN)
Finally, parents see their children as being unique and special, in everything… from their age, their health, even the activities they’re involved in. They need assurance that their child's uniqueness is represented by the demographics and characteristics of the children in the clinical trials. Also, while the pediatric vaccine is targeted at children ages 5 – 11, parents don’t view children in that age range as all being the same. In fact, parents who have children at both ends of that age range say they will make separate vaccine decisions for each of their children.
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