BOOST-UP 2

Pregnancy is a key opportunity to enhance vaccine confidence, as expectant mothers and their partners can play a pivotal role in influencing family vaccination decisions and have a lasting impact on their children’s vaccination uptake throughout life. Parental vaccine confidence is positively associated with pediatric vaccine uptake and negatively associated with delays in receipt of scheduled immunizations and there is extant literature that supports parental vaccine intentions as modifiable and linked to timely vaccination (26).
Therefore, by addressing vaccine confidence during this pivotal period, we can boost not only maternal vaccination rates but also enhance confidence and uptake in pediatric vaccines and those administered later in life, such as the HPV vaccine. In line with the imperative to attain global vaccine equity, the present research proposes to formatively assess the immunization landscape in Uganda, in a region characterized by a high burden of VPDs and low resources.
The proposed work aims to serve as a road map for improving vaccine confidence to better align immunization campaigns and delivery strategies in Uganda and similar LMICs with care-seeking patterns and preferences of the population.