immunization – Extension Foundation

Tag Archive for: immunization

Getting to the Heart of the Matter: COVID-19 Vaccination Education Survey

Cooperative Extension professionals across the system and at all levels are invited to share their opinions and experiences regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and vaccination education.

This project is sponsored by the Extension Foundation and the Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement (EXCITE).

Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow Center for Media & Health Promotion Research, WSU Extension, and the WSU College of Education are conducting a needs assessment to gain insight into the current realities of Cooperative Extension professionals regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and vaccination education.

This is a short survey that should take about 15-20 minutes to complete:

https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/…m/SV_3jU0g7onaHBbd5k

The results of the needs assessment will be used to develop communication strategies and tools to help Cooperative Extension professionals at all levels and across the entire system feel more comfortable, willing, and confident with COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

These will support Cooperative Extension professionals, who choose to, serving as trusted and compassionate messengers of accurate vaccination information in their communities so individuals can make the decision that is in their best interest.

Your feedback about your experiences and opinions with COVID-19 vaccinations and education will be very useful for helping us understand the barriers and challenges faced by Cooperative Extension Professionals.

Please take the time to complete this survey. Every response is important!

It is only with your assistance that we can understand the full range of opinions and experiences about COVID-19 vaccinations across the Cooperative Extension System and all types of Land Grant Universities.

Your participation is voluntary and your responses will be kept confidential. No personally identifiable information will be associated with your responses in any reports of these data.

If you have questions or comments about the survey, please feel free to email us at eaustin@wsu.edu or ask for Erica at 509-335-8840.

This study has been certified as Exempt by the WSU Human Research Protection Program: irb@wsu.edu.

March 22, 2022/by Aaron Weibe

EXCITE Gets Recognition from the CDC

News, Newsroom

The Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement, (EXCITE) program received a letter of gratitude from CDC director Samuel F. Posner, and a spotlight on the CDC’s Health Equity in Action page for their work.

In the letter, Samuel Posner recognizes the value of a partnership with Cooperative Extension, stating “..we’re looking forward to learning from CES and understanding community concerns to develop and deliver effective tailored messaging to increase vaccination in hard-to-reach communities, in both rural and urban settings. I know how hard field agents work, the long hours and distances traveled especially in rural and frontier areas, and how much you all care about the community members you serve.

He highlights how this strength of CES has led to great success in vaccine uptake, “because Extension field agents are known trusted messengers working in every county across the nation,….Tailored messaging in rural areas works… In rural areas, 71.4% of people ages 18 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Thank you to those who helped realize these achievements by getting vaccinated and helping others do the same.”

A great shout out to our EXCITE team members doing work in their communities! To view the impactful work EXCITE is doing including the full CDC letter, project success stories, and breakdown of projects by state head to the new EXCITE website hosted by Extension.org — https://extension.org/excite/

February 2, 2022/by Aaron Weibe

Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement: May 2021 Immunization Education Programs Spotlight

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Cooperative Extension programs are making an impact on communities across the country with immunization education efforts, particularly with vaccine-hesitant individuals. Activities include mobile vaccination clinics in partnership with local health organizations, social media campaigns, the development of online toolkits promoting research-based immunization information, and more. This month, the EXCITE program is highlighting how an immunization education program in Virginia implemented a hotline phone registration system that now receives 28% of all vaccination registrants in the county, and how a team in Louisiana is using social media to promote COVID-19 vaccination fact sheets.

The Extension Foundation, in cooperation with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP), through an Interagency Agreement (IAA) with the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are funding the Cooperative Extension System (CES) to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities. This initiative is called the Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE).

The EXCITE program serves all land-grant universities through two-phases of activities: system-wide engagement with the CDC’s Vaccinate with Confidence communication campaign, and adult immunization education pilot projects.

Those across Cooperative Extension working in the area of Immunization Education have been registering their programs in the National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs and Assets (NRCEPA). The NRCEPA is a new tool made available through the Extension Foundation to create a living database of Cooperative Extension programs, projects, and curriculums to rapidly identify existing work across the system for national funding opportunities. Currently, the NRCEPA is in pilot with the EXCITE program.

For May 2021, EXCITE is highlighting two programs registered in the NRCEPA that are working in the area of immunization education:

Madison County COVID Vaccination Clinics

The Virginia Cooperative Extension in Madison County worked with the local health districts and hospitals to create a county-wide COVID Vaccine hotline registration system and vaccine clinic to target the county’s underserved population. By implementing a hotline phone registration system, they were able to decrease registration barriers which allowed for farmworkers, elderly with limited or no internet access, and those with limited English proficiency to register for vaccines. Due to this innovative and efficient effort, Madison county has now administered 4466 vaccines at the clinic with 28% of the registrants coming through the vaccine hotline. The Virginia Cooperative Extension will continue to build on its trusted relationship with the public to implement strategies to vaccinate hard to reach and hesitant populations.

In the NRCEPA, this program has offered several digital assets to assist other Cooperative Extension programs. This includes their vaccine appointment form template, COVID-19 Vaccine 101 factsheets, infographics, and sample advertisements.

COVID-19 Vaccine Education/Outreach Initiative – Southern University

In Louisiana, Southern University Extension Agency was facing the issue of low vaccine registration turnout due to medical mistrust among their community members. Being a trusted community resource, Southern University was able to combat this issue by utilizing their social platforms and website to inform and educate on COVID-19 and vaccinations. Southern University used pre-existing information and data from the CDC to create fact-sheets for their website, as well as the CDC social media guide to launch campaigns and webinars on the COVID-19 vaccine. This outreach and education program was an initiative created to educate and advise their underserved population on vaccines and the need for immunization.

In the NRCEPA, this program has offered several digital assets to assist other Cooperative Extension programs. This includes several infographics and fact sheets.

May 25, 2021/by Aaron Weibe

RFA: Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE) Immunization Education Pilot Projects (Activity 2)

News, Newsroom

Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, Health Innovation Task Force
Extension Foundation

EXTENSION COLLABORATIVE ON IMMUNIZATION TEACHING AND ENGAGEMENT (EXCITE) IMMUNIZATION EDUCATION PILOT PROJECTS (ACTIVITY 2)

DATES: MAY 1, 2021 – APRIL 30, 2023

ELIGIBILITY: The RFA for EXCITE Activity 2 is open to all Land Grant University CES professionals. Each LGU may apply as part of an unlimited number of lead and collaborating applications for EXCITE Activity 2. At most, one project per institution will be funded, whether the institution is lead or collaborating institution on the application. There is no limit to the number of projects as part of which a principal investigator or team member may apply. EXCITE Activity 2 is a competitive process.

TIMELINE:

Activity 2 RFA Published: upon receipt of the NIFA award notification
Activity 2 Application Due: May 14, 2021
Activity 2 Applications Review Process May 17-21, 2021
Activity 2 Award Notification: May 24-28, 2021
Activity 2 Funds Distribution to Subawardees: May 31-June 4, 2021

FUNDING LIMITS: Up to $200,000 per award for 2 years.

APPLICATION ACCESS: The application is available at https://applyextension.smapply.io/. The Application Guide and other information is available on the website at https://extension.org/immunization.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Michelle Rodgers

Associate Dean and Director

University of Delaware

EXCITE Project Director

michellerodgers@extension.org

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Extension Foundation, in cooperation with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP), through an Interagency Agreement (IAA) with the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are funding the Cooperative Extension System (CES) to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities. (AWARD NO: 2021-77041-34831)

The Extension network as a trusted leader in communities across the nation is a key factor in the selection of Extension as a CDC partner. On behalf of the Cooperative Extension System and in collaboration with ECOP, the Extension Foundation serves as Principal Investigator; provides grants administration; fiscal, operational, and technological services; system-wide communication; innovation processes; wrap-around services for projects; data collection and dashboards; and partnership development. Goals of the EXCITE Program include:

Address barriers and concerns and increase acceptability about COVID-19, flu and other vaccinations among rural and medically underserved audiences.
Increase connection and communication between targeted communities and healthcare systems.
Increase accessibility of local COVID-19, flu and other adult vaccinations and vaccination clinics.
Inform CDC, USDA-NIFA, Cooperative Extension and health partners to implement public health programs to reduce health disparities.

Activity 2 Immunization Education Pilots are competitive and support up to 20 pilots, testing various methodologies to conduct immunization education programs with priority populations for all types of adult vaccinations. Funded projects will work cooperatively with the CDC, local health professionals and programs to improve immunization rates with priority populations.

The purpose is to create and test innovative delivery methods for each pilot project and inform future immunization education methodologies of best practices.Immunization Education Pilots will be developed to not only further message testing, but to learn from the selected communities about how CES, CDC, and local health professionals could work together to educate and reach PP for improved adult immunization rates in general. Pilot projects selected for funding will ideally be diverse in geographic region, scope and delivery cost, and methods to meet a range of rural and other medically underserved at-risk areas and communities around COVID-19, flu and other adult vaccinations.

Participation in a pre-application assist workshop to develop a project including targeted population, a unique value proposition, plan for message testing implementation, and community engagement plan. Application developed with input from CDC key informants with a focus on innovative interventions. Pilot programs will include at least 1 health partner to collaboratively develop the intervention. Approximately 20 Pilot projects to be selected

Awardees conduct intervention activities designed for their priority population. Market Research will be conducted as a part of the intervention to understand priority population views and perspectives. Results will be shared among all Pilot projects. This will inform a second iteration of the intervention. Teams will engage with technical assistance, key informants and team coaches. Innovative delivery methods will be dependent on the priority population and may include worksite education, train the trainer, media campaigns, development of community leaders as messengers, use of volunteers for local program delivery.

Award and Funding Decisions–Funding decisions will be considered final. Award decisions will be published on the EXCITE Website and emailed to each institution individually.

Training Awardees–Successful applicants will attend periodic training provided by the Project Director, Assistant Project Director and the Extension Foundation in conjunction with the CDC to ensure all funded applicants have the data and input they may need to implement their projects, and ensure proper fiscal accountability, time and content of progress reports, final reports and any other information that will assist them to successfully manage their projects.

April 28, 2021/by Aaron Weibe

Cooperative Extension Service Immunization Education Project Immunization Education Fellow

News, Newsroom

This project is a collaborative effort among the Extension Committee on Policy (ECOP), , eXtension, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It grew out of efforts undertaken by the ECOP Health Innovation Task Force. eXtension anticipates receiving funding for Immunization Education efforts. Key Extension leaders on this project are Dr. Roger Rennekamp, Dr. Michelle Rodgers, Dr. Caroline Henney, Ms. Ali Mitchell Dunigan and Dr. Chris Geith. This project will allow CDC and the Cooperative Extension System to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities by facilitating discussions at the community level to address barriers and concerns about COVID-19, flu and other adult vaccinations. It is designed to help increase connections and communication between the community and health care practices, as well as increase accessibility and acceptability of local vaccination clinics and opportunities with the goal to and mobilize communities to implement public health programs to reduce health disparities, especially in rural areas. The four broad areas of emphasis for this project are:

A National Assessment
- Create a landscape report through a national assessment of current activities, locations and delivery of extension immunization education, community dialogue, and the cooperative delivery of immunization clinics. Timeline: April-July 2021
Vaccinate with Confidence National Campaign
- Work with all 111 LGUs who are eligible to apply for funding to support their customization and deployment of the Vaccinate with Confidence Campaign. The package includes materials from the CDC, professional development offerings by the Vaccinate with Confidence technical assistance team available to all LGU’s and funding. LGU’s will complete a standardized and simple online application organized around a rubric to ensure funding priorities, such as serving underserved audiences and collecting standard data. This information will be built into an application form briefly requiring a description of their planned implementation and their planned budget.
An Impact Collaborative Summit
- Work with eXtension Foundation to offer an Impact Collaborative Summit to develop opportunities for immunization education and clinics utilizing Extension resources, staff and locations as well as their partnerships with local health education resources, staff and immunization locations. This Summit will help potential pilot recipients incubate and plan to accelerate opportunities for immunization education in rural and underserved communities. Timeline: April 2021.
Implement immunization education and clinic pilots, community dialogues, and the cooperative delivery of immunization clinics. Timeline: May 2021-March 2022.
- Pilots will test out immunization education programs, community dialogue frameworks, and clinic models in rural and underserved communities that will include data collection and use of common metrics for reporting.
- A non-research report of what is learned will be created and shared with the Cooperative Extension System and collaborative leaders of this project. This report is to be a brief report and summary of the pilots from the pilot leaders.

This project is seeking an Immunization Education Fellow who will work collaboratively with the Project Director and Assistant Project Director of the Immunization Education Project. This will be a one year buyout from a land grant university for approximately 10% time. eXtension will serve as the principal investigator for the project and eXtension will serve as a backbone for the project efforts.

The work of the fellows will focus on building the capacity and expanding the portfolio of the Cooperative Extension System’s work focused on health and well being. Much of this will be accomplished through a Connect Extension subgroup where fellows will work as a team to foster identification and sharing of programmatic resources, expertise and collaboration around priority themes determined by Roger Rennekamp. This position will report to Dr. Roger Rennekamp.

Engage Connect Extension group members weekly in planned activities such as learning circles, webinars, cafes, dialogs, and chat events.
Create content that encourages engagement of members such as blog posts, forum questions and surveys related to Immunization Education.
Catalyze the growth and effectiveness of the Immunization Education community on the Connect Extension digital platform.
Develop a tagging vocabulary in Connect Extension to make resources easy to find.
Design and host at least three national professional development online events to the Cooperative Extension System with eXtension; for example, an action dialog or a webinar.
Report monthly on group engagement to Roger Rennenkamp.
This position will work remotely. Knowledge and experience with virtual work and computer skills are needed for this position.

The projected timeline for this position is April 1, 2021 through March 30, 2022: (dependent upon project funding)

February 18 until position is filled: Accept letters of interest and resumes

April 1, 2021: Start date for Immunization Fellow

April 1, 2021: Official start for the Project

If there are questions, please contact Dr. Roger Rennekamp Ph.D., Extension Health Director, at rogerrennekamp@extension.org

Persons interested in this position should apply here: https://form.jotform.com/210485133469154

Contact Brenna Kotar, eXtension Foundation at ceoassistant@extension.org with questions pertaining to the application.

February 19, 2021/by Aaron Weibe

Cooperative Extension Service Immunization Education Project: Vaccinate with Confidence Health Promotion Specialist

News, Newsroom

Cooperative Extension Service Immunization Education Project

Vaccinate with Confidence Health Promotion Specialist Position Description

This project is a collaborative effort among the Extension Committee on Policy (ECOP), eXtension, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It grew out of efforts undertaken by the ECOP Health Innovation Task Force. eXtension anticipates receiving funding for Immunization Education efforts. Key Extension leaders on this project are Dr. Roger Rennekamp, Dr. Michelle Rodgers, Dr. Caroline Henney, Ms. Ali Mitchell Dunigan and Dr. Chris Geith. This project will allow CDC and the Cooperative Extension System to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities by facilitating discussions at the community level to address barriers and concerns about COVID-19, flu and other adult vaccinations. It is designed to help increase connections and communication between the community and health care practices, as well as increase accessibility and acceptability of local vaccination clinics and opportunities with the goal to and mobilize communities to implement public health programs to reduce health disparities, especially in rural areas. The four broad areas of emphasis for this project are:

A National Assessment
- Create a landscape report through a national assessment of current activities, locations and delivery of extension immunization education, community dialogue, and the cooperative delivery of immunization clinics. Timeline: April-July 2021
Vaccinate with Confidence National Campaign
- Work with all 111 LGUs who are eligible to apply for funding to support their customization and deployment of the Vaccinate with Confidence Campaign. The package includes materials from the CDC, professional development offerings by the Vaccinate with Confidence technical assistance team available to all LGU’s and funding. LGU’s will complete a standardized and simple online application organized around a rubric to ensure funding priorities, such as serving underserved audiences and collecting standard data. This information will be built into an application form briefly requiring a description of their planned implementation and their planned budget.
An Impact Collaborative Summit
- Work with eXtension Foundation to offer an Impact Collaborative Summit to develop opportunities for immunization education and clinics utilizing Extension resources, staff and locations as well as their partnerships with local health education resources, staff and immunization locations. This Summit will help potential pilot recipients incubate and plan to accelerate opportunities for immunization education in rural and underserved communities. Timeline: April 2021.
Implement immunization education and clinic pilots, community dialogues, and the cooperative delivery of immunization clinics. Timeline: May 2021-March 2022.
- Pilots will test out immunization education programs, community dialogue frameworks, and clinic models in rural and underserved communities that will include data collection and use of common metrics for reporting.
- A non-research report of what is learned will be created and shared with the Cooperative Extension System and collaborative leaders of this project. This report is to be a brief report and summary of the pilots from the pilot leaders.

This project is seeking a health promotion specialist (a full-time buyout from a Land Grant University (LGU) or a service contract) to provide expertise and coordination working LGUs to successfully deploy the Vaccinate with Confidence Health Promotion in a local context through the Cooperative Extension Service. eXtension will serve as the principal investigator for the project and eXtension will serve as a backbone for the project efforts. This position will work collaboratively with the Project Director, Assistant Project Director and the Operations Manager to lead this project. This position will report to the Project Director, Dr. Michelle Rodgers. The Health Promotion Specialist for this project will:

Provide expertise and coordination working with LGUs to encourage, recruit and assist them in the customization and deployment of the Vaccinate with Confidence campaign.
Work with the LGUs as they implement the Vaccinate with Confidence campaign to ensure local success and impact and provide a communications/promotion toolkit for LGUs’ use.
Offer different forms of professional development and other resources as needed throughout the project to support the Vaccinate with Confidence campaign package available to the 111 LGU’s and the selected pilot projects (approximately 20).
Assist LGUs to best utilize the Vaccinate with Confidence Campaign Packaging funding.
Connect and coordinate successful LGU pilot applicants with the Vaccinate with the Confidence Technical Assistance (Market Research Firm) service provider.
Work with the pilot projects in the design of their projects and in the deployment of their work.
Serve with the eXtension Foundation Team to deliver and serve teams and participants attending the Impact Collaborative for Immunization Education to expand the Vaccinate with Confidence campaign.
Work with the Evaluation team/firm to help insure the success of campaign and pilot efforts to achieve impact and provide consultation as appropriate.
Participate and learn about the Impact Collaborative and possibly serve on the Impact Collaborative Design Team.
Provide feedback and reports (quarterly and final).
Serve on the project advisory and planning team committees.
Work collaboratively with the 1890 and 1994 Engagement Coordinators.
Work collaboratively with the Evaluation Team.
Work collaboratively with the Immunization Education Fellow.
Participate and engage in the Connect Extension group.

The projected timeline for this position is April 1, 2021 through March 30, 2022: (dependent upon project funding)

February 12 until position is filled: Accept letters of interest and resumes
April 1, 2021: Start date for Health Promotion Specialist
April 1, 2021: Official start for the Project

If there are questions, please contact Project Director Dr. Michelle Rodgers, PhD, Associate Dean and Director, University of Delaware, mrodgers@udel.edu Mobile 302-635-4306.

Persons interested in this position should send a letter of interest and a resume to Brenna Kotar, eXtension Foundation at ceoassistant@extension.org. by February 19, 2021.

February 12, 2021/by Aaron Weibe

Tag Archive for: immunization

Getting to the Heart of the Matter: COVID-19 Vaccination Education Survey

EXCITE Gets Recognition from the CDC

Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement: May 2021 Immunization Education Programs Spotlight

RFA: Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE) Immunization Education Pilot Projects (Activity 2)

Cooperative Extension Service Immunization Education Project Immunization Education Fellow

Cooperative Extension Service Immunization Education Project: Vaccinate with Confidence Health Promotion Specialist

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