April 30, 2025

Immunisation for all: health communications as a bridge to vaccine equity 

World Immunisation Week is a timely reminder of the collective efforts required to ensure ‘immunisation for all is humanly possible.’ Recent events, such as the ongoing measles outbreaks in the USA, underscore the critical need for effective health communications to combat misinformation and promote vaccine equity. In the UK, disparities in vaccine uptake persist, particularly among marginalised communities, highlighting the urgent need for approaches that actually make a difference.

This isn’t just a public health challenge, but a communications crisis.

Why vaccines don’t reach everyone

Despite the availability of vaccines, significant disparities in vaccine confidence and vaccine uptake still exist. These gaps are not simply a matter of personal choice; rather, they reflect a complex web of structural, social, and psychological barriers. This includes factors like misinformation, distrust in healthcare systems, and socio-economic barriers. Overall childhood vaccination rates in England have declined in recent years, falling below to World Health Organization’s 95% coverage target, with the steepest declines and lowest uptake consistently observed in areas of higher deprivation.

The UK’s vaccine equity gap is a postcode lottery layered with cultural nuance. Where a person lives and what their daily life looks like can significantly shaper their access to vaccines and the quality of information they receive, while historic mistrust of healthcare and the industry, and literacy barriers further influence vaccine confidence.

• Geography meets demography: Physical barriers to access, such as clinic access, convenience, and juggling responsibilities whilst facing time poverty, play a critical role in the vaccine equity gap. These can compound existing barriers faced by those in lower socioeconomic groups. Language also presents a significant barrier to those who are non-native English speakers or who do not have the level of English proficiency needed to understand health information.

• The trust deficit: Mistrust in healthcare systems and government decision-making, particularly among ethnically diverse communities, remains a significant barrier to accessing primary care. This mistrust has been linked to lower vaccine uptake

• Literacy limbo: Low levels of literacy, numeracy, and health literacy also create significant barriers. Almost 7-million adults in the UK struggle to read. Recent studies have revealed that approximately 42% of working-age adults are unable to understand and act on every day health information. When numeracy skills are required to understand the information, this rises to 61%.

Who gets to be protected by vaccines is not determined by individual choice, but by who is best positioned to navigate these barriers. The issue is not one that can be resolved through pop-up clinics alone, but thinking about access in every sense of the word.

This isn’t just a numbers game about reach, uptake, and vanity metric ‘view’ counts; it’s about real people. At the heart of the vaccine equity gap is the mum in Bradford juggling work and childcare, who’s bombarded with conflicting information online and doesn’t know who to trust. It’s about an older gentleman in rural Wales who feels confused by what he’s heard about mRNA vaccines and doesn’t really see a need for him to get vaccines each year. It’s about recognising that perhaps the Somali grandmother in Bristol isn’t necessarily vaccine hesitant, but that she’s navigating a maze of WhatsApp forwards and social media posts about a jab containing pork gelatine, while official NHS leaflets arrive written in a way that she doesn’t understand.

Addressing vaccine inequity requires a concerted effort from everyone working in the healthcare space. For health communicators, we need to better adapt our vaccine communications and information to meet people where they are.

Building bridges: Four pillars of equitable vaccine communications

Health communications plays a critical role in addressing vaccine hesitancy and promoting informed decision-making. Traditional approaches, which often focus on simply broadcasting information or measure impact through vanity metrics, are insufficient. Instead, effective vaccine communications strategies must look to play the long-game and foster deep engagement with audiences. We see these four pillars as key to vaccine communications that help to address inequity.

1. Building trust

Establishing trust with target audiences is paramount. Communications should be tailored to the specific needs and concerns of different communities, taking into account factors such as language, cultural beliefs, and health literacy levels. Avoiding a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, messages should be adapted to reflect the unique experiences of the people they seek to reach.

Providing accessible, accurate, consistent, easy-to-understand information is key to building trust and empowering individuals to feel confident in making informed decisions about vaccination.

Working with trusted voices to co-create and lead communications interventions can also help support vaccine confidence. Community leaders, healthcare professionals, and influencers who have the trust of the target audience can help to deliver culturally relevant messages that resonate. But this influence shouldn’t be reserved just for those in traditional leadership role. Looking directly to those in your target audience for their insight and feedback, like through the PIF Tick accreditation framework, can help to ensure messages and dissemination hit the right mark. By involving these trusted figures in the design and dissemination of vaccine information, organisations can address specific concerns and dispel misconceptions whilst fostering a sense of partnership, ultimately helping to strengthen vaccine confidence and reduce inequities.

2. Vaccinating against misinformation

Countering misinformation requires a proactive approach. It is important to present facts clearly and transparently, directly addressing common myths and concerns about vaccines through timely and targeted communications. This includes using engaging and accessible formats, such as infographics or sort videos, to make vaccine information easier to understand and more memorable, especially for those with lower health literacy.

In addition to debunking false claims after they emerge, brands should also look to have ‘pre-bunking’ strategy in place – educating people with the right information early on can help to build resilience against vaccine misinformation. Brands should also consider how they can help the public to better identify trusted sources versus misinformation. Doing so can help prevent misinformation from taking hold and spreading, instead supporting individuals in being able to identify reputable sources. Whilst not a quick fix, these efforts can work to foster greater health literacy and trust in health information.

3. Health literacy by design

Improving health literacy is essential to empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their health and to feel confident in vaccination. Health communications should prioritise the use of plain language, clear organisation, and visual aids, such as infographics, illustrations, and videos. This helps to ensure that information is accessible and easy to understand for people of all literacy levels. Materials should be tailored to meet the diverse needs of communities, including translations and easy-read formats.

By presenting information in simple, engaging ways and supplementing with visuals, health communicators can help bridge literacy gaps and make vaccine information more actionable and easier to understand. Doing so can help to build health literacy and trust over time, ultimately working to reduce disparities in vaccine uptake.

4. Mastering the digital ground game

The digital world can present a double-edged sword when it comes to vaccine information, at once fertile ground for misinformation as well as a powerful platform for transformative communication. While the rapid spread of false or misleading vaccine narratives online can undermine public confidence and fuel hesitancy, digital tools also enable targeted, timely communications programmes that can reach diverse audiences at scale. To harness this, it is essential to understand how digital channels shape perceptions.

Especially in therapy areas like vaccines where online narratives move quickly and audiences experience feelings of uncertainty, brands should look to augment their digital strategy to understand the impact their activities are having online – and where they need to take action. Tools, like our Curious COMPASSTM – COmmunications and Marketing Presence Audit System, can take a closer look at what’s happening in the online world, examine the impact of interventions, and proactively identify emerging concerns, and inform smart tactics to get things back on track.  Social listening tools can also play an important role in supporting vaccine communications, allowing you to monitor online conversations in real time.

By listening to the public’s questions and anxieties, health communicators can respond quickly with accurate, accessible, and relevant information. Ultimately, integrating digital into vaccine communication efforts allows for more responsive, inclusive, and effective strategies that support vaccine confidence across different populations.

The path forward: blending humanity with hyper-targeting

Achieving ‘immunisation for all’ demands health communications strategies as sophisticated as the vaccines themselves. In today’s complex landscape, this means combining precise and personalised storytelling with a deep understanding of how digital platforms shape public perceptions and behaviours. To be effective, communications must not only navigate different audiences and evolving algorithms, but also look to adapt to the unique needs, doubts, and digital habits of diverse communities.

The UK’s vaccine landscape calls for a nuanced approach that blends the strengths of traditional health communications – such as trusted voices and face-to-face engagement – with the reach and precision of digital marketing. By listening closely to communities, understanding their barriers, and co-creating messages that resonate emotionally as well as factually, we can foster trust and drive vaccine equity.

 

Looking to create a vaccine communication programme with a difference? The team at Curious Health brings decades of experience in vaccine communications, stretching back to helping clients manage the misinformation relating to the MMR scandal of the early 2000s, launching the first HPV vaccine and the first vaccine for shingles, as well as a special focus on driving vaccine equity. Get in touch with us at [email protected]