“Trusted Messengers Felt Like They Made All the Difference”: The Role of Community-Based Organizations in Supporting Parents’ Access to a Communication Infrastructure Relevant to COVID-19 Pediatric Vaccines

This study examines how community-based organizations (CBOs) in a large city in the northeast United States helped to bridge potential gaps in their community members’ access to and use of a communication infrastructure relevant to the COVID-19 vaccine for children. Using a purposive sampling strategy, we conducted 10 semi-structured interviews between July and September 2022 with staff members of CBOs who communicated about COVID-19 vaccination for children (ages 17 and younger) in their community. We constructed themes from the transcribed interviews using our deductive codes informed by the interview guide and the conceptual model of the communication infrastructure as a social determinant of health. We also used inductive codes to capture emerging themes from the interviews. CBO leaders described a misalignment between the supply and demand of relevant and accessible information about the COVID-19 vaccine for children among parents in their communities. Building and maintaining trust, in particular, was a crucial foundation for facilitating CBOs’ information sharing about the vaccine with community members. CBO leaders led various messaging strategies tailored to help meet the information needs of their community members. However, CBO leaders highlighted some challenges in evaluating the reach and effectiveness of the messaging efforts. Our findings highlight how CBOs can support their community members’ access to and comprehension of health information about the COVID-19 vaccine for children but also underscore the importance of ensuring CBOs have sufficient funding and resources to develop strong relationships with community members before moments of crisis, such as the coronavirus pandemic.