Dynamics of Vaccine Hesitancy: A Practitioner's Playbook

Download the Playbook from Busara

With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, Digital Square at PATH led the Digital Results Improve Vaccine Equity and Demand (DRIVE Demand) project, a two-year, US$5 million partnership to deploy and expand the use of digital health tools in Honduras, Mali, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia. Concluding in June 2024, DRIVE Demand was guided by The Rockefeller Foundation Global Vaccine Initiative’s approach to supporting iterative, country-driven efforts to increase demand for vaccination. This approach simultaneously addresses barriers to vaccination—such as access, trust, and information—that are often underestimated and misunderstood, while also leveraging digital and data tools to drive more effective and proactive vaccine interventions.

To this end, DRIVE Demand commissioned the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics (Busara) to conduct behavioral research in order to understand the barriers and drivers for routine vaccinations and COVID-19 vaccinations. Busara’s research was designed to help inform the development and implementation of innovative and human-centered Social and Behavior Change (SBC) messaging optimized for mobile platforms to drive demand for vaccines in the target populations. This study leveraged insights from behavioral science in an attempt to increase the demand and uptake of both routine and COVID-19 vaccinations. Core countries in this study included Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Dynamics of Vaccine Hesitancy: A Practitioner's Playbook is the culmination of Busara’s work under DRIVE Demand, created with the intention to ensure that the insights from this research translate into actionable recommendations and tools for ministries of health, public health practitioners, and health donors to tackle vaccine hesitancy and non-intention. It is available for download from the Busara website in both English and French.