Vaccination Conversations with Scientists

Vaccination Conversations with Scientists (VaCS) connects scientist and student volunteers with community members to help people make informed decisions regarding vaccination. We focus on having productive conversations centered on the science behind vaccines, building back trust in vaccines and in science. Additionally, VaCS trains our volunteers to talk about vaccines with all audiences, honing their science communication skills and providing invaluable hands-on experience to volunteers who are current and future science and healthcare professionals.

The Problem

Mistrust in vaccines caused by misinformation spread throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has created an uptick in vaccine hesitancy worldwide, nationally, and in our local area. Despite many people receiving COVID-19 vaccines, American people’s acceptance of vaccine misinformation is still prevalent and growing, leading to needless illness and death. Even for people willing to be vaccinated, frequent changes in policies, vaccine availabilities, and vaccine formulations make it difficult for people to stay up-to-date with their COVID-19 and other vaccines. Time in a doctor’s office can be limited, so people don’t often have the opportunity to have in-depth conversations about vaccines with someone knowledgeable in vaccine science.

Our Approach

VaCS seeks out one-on-one and small group compassionate conversations with community members directly—reaching them at home through phone banking and in their neighborhoods at community events using canvassing and tabling strategies. VaCS employs active listening approaches to identify reasons for vaccine hesitancy, followed by providing fact-forward information to address community members’ concerns, collecting data for research along the way. During our conversations, we take care to present vaccine science in a compassionate, respectful, and non-judgmental way to empower community members to make the best personal health decisions for themselves.

Our Team

Director: Kara Rode Webber, PhD

Volunteers: VaCS volunteers are scientists affiliated with Cornell University and other colleges and universities. They are STEM graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, faculty, undergraduate students, and alumni who are committed to communicating the science behind vaccines for a happier and healthier community.

Contact information

Kara Rode Webber, PhD
vaccineconversations@gmail.com
(607) 229-1760