'Vaccine Ambassador’ Course Aims to Arm Parents with Credible Information

The Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center is offering a new course to educate individuals as “Vaccine Ambassadors” — people capable of promoting vaccinations to parents and others in their communities with a fully informed understanding of the science, respectful strategies for addressing doubters, and credible sources for debunking false claims.

The online, self-paced course — “COVID Vaccine Ambassador Training: How To Talk To Parents” — is free on Coursera and led by Rupali Limaye, director of behavioral and implementation science for IVAC.

“Vaccination is a key strategy for preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19,” a summary of the course states. “COVID-19 vaccines are available for children 5 and older, but many parents have questions about vaccinations. This training course prepares parents of school-age children, PTAs, community members, and school staff to be Vaccine Ambassadors and promote vaccine acceptance in their communities.”

After completing the course, Vaccine Ambassadors will be able to share knowledge about COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine, engage in conversations about vaccine hesitancy in a respectful and empathetic way, direct people to credible sources for further information about COVID-19 vaccines, and recognize and respond to misinformation.

Visit Coursera to register for the approximately two-hour training.