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This article by Wilkinson et al is very relevant to the current Canadian context where family physicians, representing almost 50% of the medical workforce1, have historically provided most vaccinations and are one of the most trusted source of information about vaccinations2. The programs to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to Canadians have been dominated by mass vaccination programs run by hospitals and public health. Community pharmacies have played a smaller but important role. Most Canadian primary care practices were and are not involved in the administration of COVID-19 vaccines. However, as the authors highlight, primary care has traditionally provided the counseling and vaccine education infrastructure on which our vaccination system is built. While many primary care clinics had in person care significantly disrupted or restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing counseling on vaccines remains a crucial tool in increasing vaccine uptake. The trusting relationship between patients and their family physicians is a recognized asset and unprecedented efforts by public health agencies at all levels have offered COVID-19 vaccine information to family physicians to support their engagement with patients. Family physicians are increasingly being relied on to identify and reach out to those patients who remain hesitant or face unique barriers to vaccination3.
The Canadian Primary care Information Network (see https://en.cpin-rcip.com/) offers a service which sends a questionnaire to all adult patients of a practice which identifies which patients have not yet received a vaccine along with the reasons why they are hesitant. This information is combined with the patient’s sex, age and educational attainment to segment the patients into groups with distinct information needs. A campaign of messages tailored to the different patient segments is then sent by e-mail or text to the patients. The effectiveness of this service is being assessed by a cluster randomized controlled trial. As we consider approaches to future mass vaccination campaigns, whether for the next flu season or next pandemic, we need to learn the lessons from primary care’s performance during this pandemic in both providing vaccines to our patients and also supporting our patients in accessing trusted evidence based information on vaccines. In our current social-media environment of growing online mis-information, this latter role is increasingly crucial.
1. https://www.cihi.ca/en/a-profile-of-physicians-in-canada-2019
2. https://www.edelman.ca/trust-barometer/edelman-trust-barometer-2021
3. https://www.ontariofamilyphysicians.ca/tools-resources/covid-19-resource...