How to make friends and increase vaccinations – lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Dutch Caribbean 3698

Abstract Description Vaccine hesitancy has increased along with political polarization and online misinformation. Immunologists can help to reverse this trend by regularly engaging with local community members. Beginning in 2021, we were involved in a COVID-19 vaccination campaign on the island of Saba in the Dutch Caribbean that resulted in vaccination of 92% of eligible adults by early 2023. Herein, we describe the most effective ways we engaged the island population regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines: 1) Don’t wait to start talking to your community. During the summer of 2020 we held several journal clubs at a local establishment, discussing recent reports regarding RNA vaccine trials, as well as basic information about coronavirus and immune response. 2) Keep things personal. Once the vaccines became available, we met with community members at government-sponsored townhalls, but also engaged more informally with citizens in churches, grocery stores, and other gathering places. Face-to-face meetings were better at fostering trust than attempting to disseminate information online. 3) Share common experiences. When talking with community groups, we made the effort to find common ground and relate immunology concepts to everyday challenges that all of us faced. 4) Encourage help from all sources. Allies in the vaccination campaign came from many different places. Grassroots involvement throughout the island community significantly increased vaccine acceptance. Topic Categories Immunology Education and Communication (EDU)