Developing an infodemic management toolkit for immunization: An iterative consultation process

Abstract Issue An infodemic is an overwhelming amount of information, accurate and otherwise, that accompanies health emergencies such as outbreaks and other health crises. Infodemic management work is done by people from different positions and professions, with differing resources at their disposal, and applied to a range of health issues. An infodemic insights report can help identify questions, concerns, information voids and circulating mis- disinformation to help inform an emergency response. Health issue specific guidance can be useful for those who may have infodemic management as part of their regular work but want to identify infodemic insights and contextualize these insights in relation to other programme data. Description The WHO and UNICEF ‘how to build an infodemic insights report in 6 steps’ document provides general guidance. A more immunization specific document, with practical and specific tools in standalone short focus areas was developed to guide infodemic managers or those working on vaccine demand and acceptance, and by vaccination field workers. The toolkit is intended for vaccines across the life course, including for children, adolescents, pregnant people, adults, and people with pre-existing conditions or have other vulnerabilities. Results Rounds of iteration with experts both internal and external to WHO provided useful feedback, review and suggestions. The toolkit provides information targeted at different resource and capacity levels. Lessons The consultative process resulted in a toolkit informed by experts and those who are likely end-users of the document. The consultations sought to align the toolkit with immunization programme processes and with other tools and interventions for improving vaccine uptake. Having health issue specific guidance is a useful addition to the infodemic manager toolbox and tools such as these can be an important component of community resilience and health security initiatives. Key messages • For immunization, infodemic management can support programme activities to build vaccine confidence and improve uptake, and manage vaccine-related events. • Expert informed guidance on health topic specific areas can be a useful addition to the infodemic manager toolbox.