Having Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Conversations

Patients and families consider pediatricians and other health care clinicians to be their most trusted source of information when it comes to vaccines. Integrating vaccine conversations with each appointment, particularly well-child visits, has proven to be an effective method to addressing individual questions and/or barriers for COVID-19 vaccination. You may also consider counseling only visits which are eligible for insurance payment. See the AAP COVID-19 Vaccine Administration: Getting Paid  for more information about coding COVID-19 vaccine counseling-only visits.

AAP Professional Resources

View these resources to learn more about COVID-19 vaccine confidence building strategies and for quick tips for communicating with families.

• Fostering a Culture of Vaccination in the Practice
• Communicating with Families and Promoting Vaccine Confidence
• Communicating Effectively About Immunizations
  The AAP offers two sets of discussion guides that serve as portable, digital tools to aid conversations with patients and families about immunizations. Both the childhood and the adolescent guides include both speaking points for immunization providers and family-friendly infographic pages on COVID-19 vaccine.
• Practice Immunization Conversations in Free, 30-Minute Virtual Simulation
  Learn how to respond to hesitant parents and receive feedback in this immersive and interactive training course, “Increasing Immunization Confidence,” designed for pediatricians and all pediatric care team members. The module includes a refresher on infection prevention and control for your clinic. 
• Common Questions & Talking Points
• AAP Immunization Discussion Guides
  These portable digital tools make it easy to talk with patients and families about the vaccines that are recommended for babies and children through age 6 and for preteens and teens age 9 through 18 years. A third set of guides focusing on immunizations for pregnant people and their babies will be posted soon. These guides pair easy-to-understand infographics for families with talking points for health care providers and can be viewed online—or downloaded in PDF format to save, share and print.

AAP COVID Vaccination Disinformation Webinars

View this 201-level series of 1.25 hour webinars that take a deeper dive into how to counter disinformation to encourage vaccine confidence.  

• COVID Vaccination Disinformation 101: Understanding the Vaccine Hesitant Ecosystem
• COVID Vaccination Disinformation 201: How to Identify and Respond to Specific Threats
• Countering COVID Vaccination Disinformation in Hispanic and Latino Communities

CDC Resources

• Talking with Patients about COVID-19 Vaccination
• Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 Vaccine
• Childhood Vaccination Resources for Healthcare Providers 

Additional Resources

• Let’s Talk Covid Vaccines – Developed by Institute for Vaccine Safety and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – An easy-to-use resource for parents/caregivers to answer questions about vaccine hesitancy and receive personalized educational videos.