ARCHIVED DOCUMENT 

(COVID-19)

The following document is for historical 

purposes and is no longer being 

updated. Please go to the COVID-19 

Vaccination Clinical & Professional 

Resourcesfor more recent information. 

U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services

Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/vaccines

U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services 

Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention 

CS322229-A 01/31/21

Objective: Engage health facility/clinic staff at different levels to identify 

practical ways to promote vaccine confidence and support high vaccine uptake.

APPENDIX B

The COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence 

Conversation Starter

Audience: Healthcare personnel at your specific 

healthcare facility. Ensure representation of different 

functions and levels (e.g., administrative, clinical, and 

support staff).

Note: If non-management staff members are not 

comfortable participating in a discussion with management, 

consider organizing separate sessions. By ensuring that 

personnel who are in direct or chain reporting relationships 

participate in different groups, you can enhance their 

willingness to speak candidly.

Suggested Time: 60 Minutes

Format:

 Online meeting

 Facilitator will have a supporting slide deck and suggested 

conversation prompts and ideas. Be prepared to take 

detailed notes of staff questions, concerns, and ideas for 

future use.

 Facilitator should be a staff member or outside health 

professional who is well-respected and seen as a neutral 

convener on the topic. Consider identifying a facilitator 

who represents or identifies with a large section of the 

healthcare staff assembled for the discussion; you may 

need to identify multiple facilitators for different sections 

of staff.

 It can be helpful to also have a vaccine expert in the room 

to answer more technical questions, such as those about 

vaccine safety.

 If management staff members are in the room, explain 

that, “In this meeting, everyone is an equal participant 

because we are all conveying our personal feelings 

and perspectives.”

Rationale:

 Healthcare personnel are a priority population for 

receiving COVID-19 vaccine. High uptake is needed to 

protect the healthcare workforce, patients, and 

the community.

 Vaccine hesitancy and concerns might vary from setting 

to setting and by population, so a tailored approach to 

promoting vaccine confidence may be required.

 Approaches to make vaccine confidence visible should 

come from individuals in the population prioritized 

for vaccination.
Assumptions:

 Specific vaccines to be distributed are known, including 

rollout timeline in this health system.

 Healthcare personnel at this facility are eligible to receive 

the COVID-19 vaccine.

Supporting Materials: CDC has multiple 

resources available in the COVID-19 

Vaccination Communication Toolkit for 

Health Systems and Clinics, and you are 

welcome to adapt them for use in your 

facility. Some of the materials that might 

help in this discussion include:

 “COVID-19 Vaccine Basics: What Healthcare Personnel 

Need to Know” slide deck: Will be used to introduce 

vaccine confidence concepts in the “Conversation 

Starter” session

 COVID-19 Vaccine Communication and Confidence 

Checklist Vaccine confidence posters, fact sheets, and 

FAQs: Contain key messages and visuals that can be 

discussed with staff during the “Conversation 

Starter” session

 How to Build Healthcare Personnel’s Confidence in 

COVID-19 Vaccines (Guide)

Presentation and Discussion Flow:

Welcome (Discussion, 10 minutes)—

Facilitator:  Facilitator greets everyone in the meeting.

 If people don’t know one another, do a quick round 

of introductions.

 Outline meeting objectives and any “house rules” about 

speaking up or asking questions.

 Facilitator should suggest that people submit their 

questions about vaccine confidence before the rest of the 

meeting by writing them down on notecards or sticky 

notes and handing them to the facilitator or by submitting 

them via private chat or email if meeting virtually. Ensure 

the questions are answered during the presentation 

and discussions.

COVID-19 Vaccine Communication and 

Confidence Introduction (PowerPoint, 

15 minutes)

 Use “COVID-19 Vaccine Basics: What Healthcare Personnel 

Need to Know” slide deck and include question and 

answer session for addressing common questions 

and concerns.

How Might We Build Vaccine Confidence 

Here? (Discussion, 30 minutes)  Facilitator will ask the following questions and invite 

staff to share ideas that can be used to strengthen staff 

communication at your facility.

 How many of you are planning to receive a COVID-19 

vaccine once it is available?

 Could you share why or why not?

 What messages promoting vaccine confidence resonate 

with us here?

 Using sticky notes, notecards, or chat box, list key 

messages from CDC or your own created messages, 

discuss and rank those that are most effective, and 

capture any suggestions for updating the messages 

or adding new ones.

 How might we work together to promote COVID-19 

vaccination in this organization?

 Using sticky notes, notecards, or chatbox, list ideas. 

Then facilitator can discuss and draw connections 

between similar ideas and encourage people to build 

on them.

 How might we make vaccine confidence visible to staff? 

Probe: What worked before for promoting flu vaccination? 

For promoting some other healthy behavior?

 Using sticky notes, notecards, or chat box, list ideas. 

Then the facilitator can discuss and draw connections.

Closing (Discussion, 5 minutes)—Facilitator  Present a list of top suggestions and identify any action 

points and next steps for management. Determine who is 

responsible for tasks, and set timelines.

 Inform staff how they can submit future suggestions 

for consideration and where they can go to get their 

additional questions answered.

CDC | NCIRD | Appendix B: The COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Conversation Starter