SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Public School District Employees Following a District-Wide Vaccination Program - Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, March 21-April 23, 2021.

The School District of Philadelphia reopened for in-school instruction the week of March 21, 2021, and required weekly testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, for all employees returning to in-school responsibilities. The resumption of in-school instruction followed a mass vaccination program using the Pfizer-BioNTech 2-dose vaccine offered under a partnership between the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to all 22,808 School District of Philadelphia employees during February 23-April 3, 2021.* The subsequent mandatory testing program provided an opportunity to assess the percentage of positive BinaxNow point-of-care antigen tests (Abbott Laboratories) identified among school staff members based on their self-reported vaccination status (i.e., received zero, 1, or 2 vaccine doses) at the time of testing. During the initial 5 weeks after schools reopened, 34,048 screening tests were performed. Overall, 0.70% of tests returned a positive result. The percentage of positive test results was lower among persons who reported receipt of 2 vaccine doses (0.09%) compared with those who reported receipt of 1 dose (1.21%) or zero doses (1.76%) (p<0.001) representing a 95% reduction in percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 test results among persons reporting receipt of 2 compared with zero doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Vaccination of school staff members has been highlighted as an important strategy to maximize the safety of in-person education of K-12 students this fall (1). These findings reinforce the importance of promoting COVID-19 vaccination among school staff members before commencement of the 2021-22 school year.

Engaging Trusted Messengers to Increase COVID-19 Pediatric Vaccine Uptake in Philadelphia: Lessons from the VaxUpPhillyFamilies program.

INTRODUCTION: Communities of color had higher rates of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and lower rates of COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic. Parental concern about the safety and necessity of pediatric COVID-19 vaccines contribute to low childhood vaccination. Enlisting parents and caregivers as trusted messengers is an evidence-based approach to mitigate this challenge. VaxUpPhillyFamilies was formed to engage parents and caregivers as vaccine ambassadors to increase vaccination rates in children of color. This study aimed to understand the key benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from the VaxUpPhillyFamilies program. METHODS: Three online debriefing sessions with ambassadors were conducted between September 7 and October 24, 2022, to share best practices, address challenges, receive emerging vaccine information, and provide support. Thematic analysis was utilized to develop broad themes and subthemes. RESULTS: Four themes with corresponding subthemes were identified: 1) Motivations to Become an Ambassador: a) improving the health of the community and b) personal satisfaction; 2) Defining Success: a) community interactions and b) influencing opinions; 3) Best Approaches: a) being mentally prepared with facts, b) addressing community health needs beyond COVID-19, c) demonstrating empathy, d) "meeting them where they're at" by motivational interviewing, and e) building trust and connection; 4) Challenges: a) changes in vaccine guidelines, b) vaccine misinformation, c) varied perceptions of severity of COVID-19 illness and benefits of the vaccine, d) breakdown of communication from trusted sources, and e) structural barriers to engagement. CONCLUSION: Parents and caregivers were a resource for delivering evidence-based messaging about COVID-19 and other health challenges. To effectively equip parents and caregivers as public health ambassadors, it is critical to offer training in engagement strategies, to identify and combat misinformation, and to provide support in navigating challenges. VaxUpPhillyFamilies program is a model for future public health campaigns.

Parenting Science Gang: radical co-creation of research projects led by parents of young children.

BACKGROUND: Parents are increasingly searching online for information supported by research but can find it difficult to identify results relevant to their own experiences. More troublingly, a number of studies indicate that parenting information found online often can be misleading or wrong. The goal of the Parenting Science Gang (PSG) project was to use the power of the Internet to help parents ask questions they wanted to have answered by scientific research and to feel confident in assessing research evidence. METHODS: By using Facebook to recruit groups and facilitate interactions, PSG was able to engage fully the target public of parents of young children in the radical co-production of scientific studies, while not creating an undue burden on time or restricting participants due to disability, financial status or location. By giving parents true partnership and control of creation of projects, PSG ensured that the chosen questions were ones that were of most relevance and interest to them. RESULTS: This paper presents a summary of eight projects, with three in more detail, designed and implemented by PSG Facebook groups in collaboration with experts. Most projects had health related themes, often prompted by dissatisfaction with treatment of parents by health professionals or by feelings of being marginalised by pregnancy and motherhood, as well as by the lack of evidence for their questions and concerns. The PSG approach meant that these frustrations were channelled into actions. All eight of the PSG groups engaged in meaningful interactions with experts and co-produced studies with the groups defining the questions of interest. CONCLUSIONS: This radically user-led design meant that the PSG staff and the collaborating experts had to live with a high degree of uncertainty. Nevertheless, PSG achieved its goal of academically productive, truly co-produced projects, but as important were the positive effects it had on many of the participants, both parents and experts. At the point of writing this paper, PSG projects have led to outputs including at least eight papers published, in press or in preparation, seven conference presentations, testimony to the Infant Feeding All-Party Parliamentary Group, and with more to come.