DURING the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions with peers played a large role in people's decisions around vaccination, new research from UNSW Sydney shows.
When COVID-19 vaccines became available in Australia, there was a flood of education and promotional campaigns encouraging people to get vaccinated.
But these messages from government and healthcare providers travelled slowly through some communities and didn't always resonate.
This contributed to vaccine hesitancy in some people.
The UNSW study, published in Health Expectations, explored the role of peer-to-peer communication in the vaccine rollout.
"Information about health is almost always top down - so received from govt agencies, health agencies and your doctor," said Joshua Karras, the lead author of the study.
"But peer-to-peer communication is when information is received from a friend, family member or other equal - a trusted source.
"So it can be quite powerful.
"After receiving the vaccine, people are more likely to become champions of it," Karras explained.
On the other hand, unvaccinated participants believed that peer-to-peer communication was not as important.
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