Vaccines are one of our greatest success stories, but vaccination rates for many diseases have been stalling; this has been exacerbated with the disruption caused by Covid-19. Anna Mouser sets out the evidence on what works, and what doesn’t, for improving vaccination rates and saving lives.

The barriers that can stand in the way of people receiving the vaccines they need are varied and complex, and efforts to address them need to be too. It's essential that immunisation programmes on the ground are led by the evidence on what works, and what doesn’t, in improving uptake of the vaccines which are available.

That’s why we’ve published a briefing on effective ways to increase vaccination rates. We hope it will act as a useful guide to the research on which activities improve vaccine uptake. By being evidence-led we can focus our efforts on the biggest barriers to access and ensure our work is as effective as it can be in recovering from the Covid-19 crisis and achieving high vaccination coverage globally.

Here are our four key recommendations:

  1. Remove practical barriers to immunisation.
  2. Rethink how we talk about vaccines.
  3. Present vaccination as a social norm.
  4. Carry out research in different countries and contexts.

Read the full article about improve vaccination rates by Anna Mouser at Wellcome.