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. 2023 Oct 19;11(10):1616.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11101616.

Stakeholders' Understanding of European Medicine Agency's COVID-19 Vaccine Information Materials in EU and Regional Contexts

Indiana Castro  1 , Marie Van Tricht  1 , Nicole Bonaccorso  2 , Martina Sciortino  2 , Juan Garcia Burgos  1 , Claudio Costantino  2 , Rosa Gonzalez-Quevedo  1
Affiliations

Stakeholders' Understanding of European Medicine Agency's COVID-19 Vaccine Information Materials in EU and Regional Contexts

Indiana Castro et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Erratum in

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to communicating accurate information about vaccines because of the spread of misinformation. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) tried to reassure the public by communicating early on about the development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines. The EMA surveyed patients/consumers, healthcare professional organizations, and individual stakeholders, both at the EU level and in an Italian regional context. The objectives of the study were to see if the EMA's core information materials were informative and well-understood and which communication channels were preferred by the public. The main findings showed that individual patients/consumers generally prefer to obtain information about COVID-19 vaccines from the internet or mass media, while organizations and individual healthcare professionals prefer to obtain information from national and international health authorities. Both at EU and local levels, participants had a good understanding of the key messages from regulators and found the materials useful and relevant. However, some improvements were recommended to the visual, text, and dissemination formats, including publishing more information on safety and using a more public-friendly language. Also, it was recommended to maintain the EMA's approach of using media, stakeholder engagement, and web-based formats to communicate about COVID-19 vaccines. In conclusion, user-testing of proactive communication materials aimed to prebunk misinformation during a public health crisis helps to ensure that users understand the development and safety of novel vaccine technologies. This information can then be used as a basis for further evidence-based communication activities by regulators and public health bodies in an emergency context.

Keywords: COVID-19; EMA; hesitancy; misinformation; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

I.C., R.G-Q., M.V.T., J.G.B., M.S. and N.B. have nothing to disclose. C.C. received throughout the University Hospital of Palermo (as an experimental center) funding grants for the conduction of clinical studies in the field of vaccination (RSV vaccination, high-dose influenza vaccination, PCV21 vaccination, study on co-administration of pediatric vaccination such as hexavalent, pneumococcal, and meningococcal B vaccines) and participated as a member to several national and international advisory boards on vaccines.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Profile of participants to EU-level survey (a) and Italian regional survey (b) by stakeholder group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of participants who completed only the first section (Tier 1) or both sections (Tier 1 and Tier 2) of the survey.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of preferred sources of COVID-19 vaccine information across stakeholder groups. (a). EU and regional individual patients and consumers and patient and consumer organizations. (b). EU and regional individual healthcare professionals and healthcare professional organizations.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Participants’ feedback on usefulness, language, and level of detail of COVID-19 vaccine materials. (a) Feedback on Tier 1 “COVID-19 vaccines: basic facts” by EU-level (n = 30) and regional (n = 30) participants. (b) Feedback on Tier 2 “COVID-19 vaccines: development, evaluation, approval and monitoring” by EU-level (n = 23) and regional (n = 23) participants.
Figure 5
Figure 5
EU-level and regional participants’ feedback on whether the graphics helped to convey key concepts (Tier 2).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Native English language status and skills for EU-level (a) and Italian regional (b) participants. Some Italian respondents who indicated that English was their native language also responded to the question of whether the English language was an obstacle for them, which was only meant to be answered by the non-native-English-speaking participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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