We have completed recruitment for this study and we are analyzing data. Thank you to everyone who participated.

What is the study about?

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased attention to the importance of vaccination in pregnancy. This study explores pregnant persons and healthcare providers’ ideas about vaccine use during pregnancy. It targets how gender and emotions shape ideas about vaccination during pregnancy.

What are the study goals?

1. To describe how ideas about gender, family, and emotions shape ideas about vaccination in pregnancy.

2. To study responses to information about vaccination in pregnancy.

3. To help improve information about vaccination in pregnancy.

What did participation involve?

Participation involved one to two interviews. Most interviews were about 30-minutes. Each interview was qualitative. That means that participants answered questions in their own words.

What do we mean by “gender?”

By “gender,” we mean two things. First, participants’ experiences as women, mothers, and new parents, or as gender and sexual minorities. Second, women, men, and other genders who provide healthcare may have different understandings of vaccination in pregnancy. We also hope to learn how ideas about vaccination in pregnancy are may be shaped by other identities (e.g., ethnicity, age, income).

Who is paying for this study?

This study is funded by postdoctoral fellowship grants from the IWK Health Centre and the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN).

Where is this study being done?

This study includes participants from across Canada.

The study is led by Dr. Terra Manca who is a postdoctoral fellow. Her supervisors are Drs. Janice Graham and Karina Top. Drs Manca, Graham, and Top work at Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. They are affiliated with the Technoscience and Regulation Research Unit (TRRU), Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV), and Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN).