Backgrounder: New Projects Funded Under the Immunization Partnership Fund

Backgrounder: New Projects Funded Under the Immunization Partnership Fund

July 2021

The Government of Canada launched the Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) in 2016 to support projects that improve access to vaccines and encourage vaccine uptake. In 2020, this fund received $64 million to support projects aimed at improving vaccination coverage in Canada in three priority areas:

• Build capacity of health care providers as vaccinators and vaccination promoters
• Support community-based COVID-19 education, outreach, and vaccine promotion
• Build capacity for evidence-based vaccine communication

The funding includes:

• $30.25 million for community-led projects to develop tailored, targeted tools and educational resources to raise awareness of, and confidence in, COVID-19 vaccines. These funds will also support the efforts of community members and leaders to increase vaccine confidence and address barriers to access and acceptance within their communities.
• $32.5 million to be dispersed over 2.5 years to support provincial and territorial governments in enhancing their electronic vaccination registries to help monitor vaccine uptake.
• $1.3 million to amend existing funded projects to incorporate measures and activities to address COVID-19.

The three new projects funded by the IPF are:

Lead organization: Alberta International Medical Graduates Association

Project Name: Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy and Acceptancy among Newcomers

Description: This project will offer tailored interventions to increase vaccine literacy and improve access to COVID-19 vaccination for newcomers to Alberta. Interventions will include practical aids, such as booking vaccine appointments, providing appointment reminders, and transporting and accompanying individuals to and from vaccine appointments. This project will also create multilingual educational supports to promote the importance of vaccinating against COVID-19. These educational supports will include community-based forums, video-mediated resources, podcasts, campaign drives, on-site supports at pop-up events, workplace educational sessions, and presentations to those enrolled in language instruction classes. Educational efforts will ensure all newcomers to Canada have up-to-date information on the COVID-19 vaccines and can ask questions in their preferred language via a multilingual vaccine support line.

Funding: Up to $500,000

Lead organization: Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Inc.

Project Name: Protecting Our Future: Winnipeg Urban Indigenous Peoples

Description: This community-based, Indigenous-led project will promote culturally responsive and evidence-based vaccination information to Winnipeg's urban Indigenous population. The Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre will leverage existing community relationships to create educational opportunities to reduce misinformation and promote the importance of vaccinating against COVID-19. The launch of a multimedia communications campaign will include video, radio, print, digital/social media and other materials in Indigenous languages. An outreach component will provide supports to help individuals get to and from their first, and second, COVID-19 vaccine appointments.

Funding: Up to $470,000

Lead organization: Refugee 613

Project Name: Vaccination, Misinformation and Digital Media: Mobilizing Newcomer

Information Practices for Effective COVID Communications

Description: In partnership with the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information, this project will research, develop, and test evidence-based strategies to counter the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on newcomers to Canada in digital spaces. The project will examine COVID-19 vaccine messaging and the way social media, search engine algorithms, and other online platforms influence newcomers' awareness of, and/or hesitation toward evidence-based information. This research will enable fact-based information and strategies to be shared on a national scale with stakeholder groups and organizations working to address barriers and overcome vaccine hesitancy among newcomers in Canada.

Up to $500,000