Improving vaccine communication

Vaccines are one of public health’s greatest success stories, remaining our most effective tool for preventing infectious diseases. However, vaccine uptake among at-risk adults, including international travellers, people with chronic medical conditions, and those who are immunocompromised, remain suboptimal. Effective, evidence-based communication is key to empowering Australians to make informed decisions about vaccination. As more people seek health information online, digital tools such as decision aids are becoming increasingly essential. Decision aids help guide people through the decision-making process, offering evidence-based information on vaccine risks and benefits while helping people to align these factors with their personal values. Drawing on principles of co-design and user-centred research, we recently developed a decision aid for Japanese encephalitis vaccines in collaboration with community members, healthcare providers, and experts. The tool aims to help people assess whether the vaccine is right for them, and is now publicly available online (see: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/vaccinedecisionaids-je). As part of a multidisciplinary research team, this project offers an exciting opportunity to expand our work on vaccine communication to new areas, such as developing decision aids for other vaccines relevant to at-risk adults. This could include vaccines for travel-related infections or those recommended for individuals with medical conditions or compromised immune systems. Students will gain skills in evidence synthesis, quantitative and qualitative research, community engagement and translating research findings into practice. Depending on the student’s interests, this PhD project could include activities such as: • Synthesising evidence on vaccine risks, benefits and alternatives for a specific vaccine-preventable disease • Designing and facilitating co-design workshops with end-users and user-testing to develop and refine a vaccine decision aid • Conducting an evaluation study to assess a vaccine decision aid’s effectiveness in supporting vaccine decision-making • Adapting the decision aid for use in different settings and among different cultural groups, ensuring it is relevant and accessible to diverse populations • Exploring real-world implementation strategies to integrate a vaccine decision aid into clinical practice This project offers a hands-on opportunity to contribute to public health by empowering at-risk individuals to make informed vaccine decisions.