Better Health For All

The COVID-19 vaccine programme has been the largest vaccine campaign in NHS history. The approach in London has and continues to be a true partnership endeavour, bringing together and harnessing the assets of all system partners and our communities in order to achieve high and equitable vaccine uptake across the city. Delivery has been multifaceted, bringing together activities at the hyperlocal, borough, Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and regional levels.

The regional Public Health function has worked to support, enable and contribute to system delivery of the vaccine programme in London by adopting a four-pillar approach focusing on:

• data and evidence
• tackling hesitancy and increasing confidence
• addressing practical barriers to vaccination
• evaluation, monitoring and system leadership

The data and evidence

Timely, high quality data and intelligence on vaccine uptake has been fundamental to London’s effort. Working closely with key London partners, we have developed a range of analysis and reports examining uptake by various groups and demographic factors. This has helped us to track progress in London and guide ongoing system efforts to increase uptake and tackle inequalities. Using presentations and analysis in creative ways has helped to demonstrate progress with delivery and highlight gaps and inequalities creating a shared understanding across partners.

Tackling hesitancy and increasing confidence

Lower self-reported vaccine confidence or likelihood of accepting the vaccine amongst London’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities has been mirrored by COVID-19 vaccine programme data showing lower uptake in many minority ethnic communities, and in areas of greater deprivation. Given the stark and persistent inequalities experienced by these communities in terms of risk of COVID infection and poorer outcomes, equitable vaccine uptake across the city has been a critical priority of the programme.

Engaging and working with Londoners has been central to understanding the questions, concerns and barriers experienced by London’s diverse communities. At a regional level, this has included a series of round tables with community groups including a pan-London Community Champion Coordinator programme and resources developed to reach specific communities and populations. A regional ‘bureau of speakers’ was developed to include medical and Public Health experts from a range of communities and backgrounds to support local events. From this grew the Public Health Ambassadors programme where colleagues from across PHE London used their lived experience and networks within their communities to co-design resources  and activities.

Many communities have concerns and fears that reach well beyond vaccine safety and efficacy. Historic and recent medical malpractice was a big feature as well as long standing issues of mistrust, discrimination and fear of state-run services and systemic racism. Listening to and acknowledging these fears and concerns linked to deep-seated and structural issues has been a vital first step towards rebuilding relationships and trust.

Addressing the barriers to vaccine uptake

Vaccine hesitancy is not the only factor behind inequalities in vaccine uptake, practical access issues are also key, The NHS, working with London borough colleagues and wider partners, have sought to adapt programme delivery over time in order to overcome these barriers and maximise convenience.

The use of local community venues, vaccination buses and other hyperlocal locations in non-traditional and more familiar settings are examples of this approach. Outreach models were developedto take vaccination to people who may otherwise not access them through other sites if they were housebound, homeless or asylum seekers for example. Hyperlocal vaccination options, alongside targeted outreach, such as door knocking or street engagement teams, has been effective at reaching people with barriers to access. Local booking systems were developed to overcome some of the challenges associated with the national booking system, and many sites offered walk-in clinics. Local call centres were also established to proactively follow up unvaccinated Londoners and provide support with booking.

Evaluating what we did

A pan-London evaluation of the COVID-19 vaccine programme was undertaken to learn lessons and share innovative practice in real time to inform programme delivery.

The evaluation report was recently published and is itself an example of strong collaboration and partnership across many partners. The report is divided into four distinct areas of focus – barriers, demand, access and legacy–and makes a number of recommendations in order to build on the learnings gathered throughout the programme and to drive continued improvement,  not only for the COVID-19 vaccine programme, for wider vaccines and for broader health systems more generally.

What we learnt

A vital thread across the system has been the importance of partnership working. Whilst the NHS led on the vaccine programme the strength of different partners was brought together through various elements whether it was the deep understanding of localities from Directors of Public Health and local authority partners to best practice engagement from the mayoral team. Much of this was facilitated by meeting to highlight issues and share good practice but also embedded through the agile learning of evaluating our work regularly. This enabled system partners to all constantly learn and grow together towards increasingly innovative methods and approaches.  

Another essential element has been the importance of working alongside communities to understand their aspirations, needs and concerns. This takes time, energy and resource but is vital to understand and address inequalities and is crucial to build confidence in vaccines and health systems. As we start to reflect on the last 18 months, it is essential that we take this as a legacy of learning from this pandemic – aiming to embed and sustain this approach going forwards. This is key not just for a focus on COVID-19 and vaccination but should be used for all health and prevention services more widely.

Written by

Dr Cyril Eshareturi
Senior Project Manager: PHE London COVID-19 response

Dr Leonora Weil
Public Health Consultant: PHE London COVID-19 response

Julie Billet
Director of Operations: PHE London Operations