Second Vaccinations: What do people want to know before their second Covid vaccination?

During the first wave of the Covid vaccination programme providers received a substantial volume of calls from people asking about their vaccination. To help prevent second vaccinations triggering a similar number of questions, Healthwatch Surrey ran a snap survey before the programme began, asking people what they wanted to know about their second vaccination.

Healthwatch Surrey aimed that their survey findings would be triangulated with other system sources and soft intelligence to inform public messaging and reduce the volume of inbound calls.

The survey ran between 18 February and 14 March 2021 and received 71 responses.

Key Findings

• Experiences of vaccinations were overwhelmingly positive, with 79% of respondents feeling they had all the information they needed before attending.
• While the first vaccinations have instilled confidence there are still those who need reassurance and information before their second vaccination. 60% of respondents had questions about their second vaccination, and 50% lacked confidence that they would receive all the information they needed before their vaccination was due.
• 15% of respondents had a question relating to the brand of vaccine offered for their next appointment and 14% of respondents asked about side effects for their second vaccination.

Recommendations and Response

• Start/refresh comms sooner rather than later – people do have questions, and focussed, early messaging could pre-empt disruptive inbound calls.
• Focus on communication about arrangements for appointments, including the brand of vaccine
• Address when/how long in advance people should expect to receive their appointment for their second vaccination. Reassurance that they do not need to be proactive. What people should do if they haven’t received their second vaccination appointment within the expected timeframe
• Offer reassurance that the system will allocate them the correct vaccination - Is there anything you can tell them about side effects? Especially important for those with caring responsibilities.

To ensure consistency of messaging and fast updates people in Surrey are being signposted to single-source Covid Vaccination information hosted by our local commissioners, Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership and Frimley Collaborative. Surrey Heartlands have taken Healthwatch Surrey’s recommendations on board and will be amending their public FAQ page to reflect these findings. The findings have been shared across a number of teams within the Frimley Collective and have informed formal and informal communication with the public.