Building Global Capacity for COVID-19 Vaccination Through Interactive Virtual Learning (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background: To support the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization and its partners developed an interactive virtual learning initiative through which vaccination stakeholders could receive the latest guidance, ask questions, and share their experiences. This initiative, implemented between 9 February 2021 and 15 June 2021, included virtual engagement between technical experts and participants during a 15-session interactive webinar series as well as web and SMS-messaging discussions in English and French. Methods This article uses a mixed-methods approach to analyze survey data collected following each webinar and a post-series survey conducted after the series had concluded. Participant data was tracked for each session and feedback surveys were conducted after each session to gauge experience quality and content usability. Chi-square tests were used to compare results across professions (health workers, public health practitioners, and other). Results The COVID-19 Vaccination Building Global Capacity webinar series reached participants in 181 countries or 93% of the WHO Member States; 78% of participants were from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). More than 60% of participants reported using the resources provided during the sessions and 47% reported sharing these resources with colleagues. More than 79% of participants stated that this initiative significantly improved their confidence in preparing for and rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations; an additional 20.3% stated that the initiative “somewhat” improved their confidence. In the post-series survey, 70% of participants reported that they will “definitely use” the knowledge derived from this learning series in their work; an additional 19.7% will “probably use” and 8.6% would “possibly use” this knowledge in their work. Conclusion The COVID-19 Vaccination Building Global Capacity learning initiative used a digital model of dynamic, interactive learning at scale. The initiative enhanced the WHO’s ability to disseminate knowledge, normative guidance, and best practices to COVID-19 vaccination stakeholders in real-time. This approach allowed the WHO to hear the information needs of stakeholders and respond by developing guidance, tools, and trainings to support COVID-19 vaccine introduction. The WHO and its partners can learn from this capacity-building experience and apply best practices for digital interactive learning to other health programmes moving forward.