Backgrounder: Government of Canada announces additional funding for nine projects through the Immunization Partnership Fund

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced an additional investment of $3,894,545 for nine existing Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) projects to support their continued COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

October 2022

The Government of Canada launched the Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) in 2016 to support projects that encourage vaccine uptake through promotional and educational initiatives. In 2020 and 2021 the IPF received $45.5 million to support projects aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake across Canada through three objectives:

• Building capacity of health care providers as vaccinators and vaccination promoters;
• Supporting community-based COVID-19 education, outreach, and vaccine promotion; and
• Building capacity for evidence-based vaccine communication.

The projects receiving additional funding through the IPF are:

Lead organization: Digital Public Square

Project Name: Leveraging Digital Tools to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Adoption

Description: This project is working to reduce the spread of vaccine misinformation with a "gamified" platform built to help users explore the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines. To date, Digital Public Square Space has exceeded targets, with over 755,000 questions answered by more than 82,000 players.

Previous Funding: $1,000,000

Additional Funding: $837,000

Lead organization: Canadian Association of Science Centres

Project Name: #ScienceUpFirst

Description: #ScienceUpFirst is a national awareness and engagement initiative that creates, distributes and amplifies best in class, science-informed content surrounding COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccines. #ScienceUpFirst is countering the "infodemic" by engaging Canadian science and health communicators, national mainstream media, science-informed social media influencers, and the general public. To date, this project has shared more than 2,500 social media posts that resulted in 25M views and over 678,600 interactions.

Previous Funding: $1,845,682

Additional Funding: $745,000

Lead organization: The Feed with Dr. G

Project Name: Bringing Vaccine Science to the Public

Description: Using multiple social media platforms, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is creating and sharing a series of targeted "explainers" to bust common vaccine myths and help overcome barriers to vaccination. Dr. Gupta's approach has resulted in TikTok videos that have gained over 65K views.

Previous Funding: $184,180

Additional Funding: $100,000

Lead organization: University of Toronto

Project Name: Playing your CARDs to Improve the COVID-19 Vaccination Experience

Description: Previously developed for children, this project aims to combat vaccination hesitancy in adults to help ensure the COVID-19 vaccination experience is positive, and to enable those receiving the vaccine to become vaccine promoters within their own spheres of influence. Through extensive partnerships, collaboration and knowledge sharing activities, this initiative is helping people with needle fear. This project engages nearly 30 vaccination stakeholders and has generated millions of impressions on social media.

Previous Funding: $499,792

Additional Funding: $55,000

Lead organization: Public Health Association of British Columbia

Project Name: Kids Boost Immunity

Description: Kids Boost Immunity (KBI) is a school-based, online learning platform designed to raise student literacy around the importance of vaccines by supporting changes in knowledge, attitudes and beliefs. Based on science, health and social studies curriculum, KBI uses a variety of educational interventions, including quizzes and classroom competitions. The project has developed over 71 specific learning modules dedicated to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. During the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1 million questions on topics such as immunity and vaccination were answered by students in elementary, middle, and high school.

Previous Funding: $1,619,916

Additional Funding: $250,000

Lead organization: Canadian Association of Community Health Centres

Project Name: Community Vaccination Promotion - National Project (CVP National)

Description: This project is increasing uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among vulnerable populations across Canada by developing and sharing evidence-based and culturally relevant vaccination promotion resources and best practices with health and social sector stakeholders to improve collective outreach and engagement capacity. The project has successfully dismantled barriers, educated the public on the COVID-19 vaccine, forged new partnerships with health providers, and built trust with marginalized populations. In partnership with local health authorities, these activities have also resulted in the administration of more than 3,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to date through Community Health Centres.

Previous Funding: $598,753

Additional funding: $499,545

Lead organization: Alliance for Healthier Communities

Project Name: Community Vaccination Promotion - Ontario (CVP-ON)

Description: This project is increasing uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among vulnerable populations across Ontario by developing and sharing evidence-based and culturally relevant vaccination promotion resources, identifying and assessing the unique needs of vulnerable populations across Ontario, and implementing tailored strategies to ensure vaccination promotion efforts meet these needs. More than 12,000 individuals used the bilingual phone line which provided COVID-19 vaccine messaging and information relevant to community members. In partnership with local health authorities, more than 14,500 individuals were vaccinated as a result of project activities.

Previous Funding: $898,011

Additional Funding: $485,000

Lead organization: Nova Scotia Association of Community Health Centres

Project Name: Community Vaccination Promotion - Nova Scotia Project (CVP Nova Scotia)

Description: This project is increasing uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among vulnerable populations across Nova Scotia by developing and sharing evidence-based and culturally relevant vaccination promotion resources, identifying and assessing the unique needs of vulnerable populations across Nova Scotia, and implementing tailored strategies to ensure vaccination promotion efforts meet these needs. With a focus on building trust among vulnerable communities this project has developed more than 70 products for distribution to Nova Scotia Community Health Centres and vaccinated nearly 1000 individuals in partnership with local health authorities.

Previous Funding: $292,234

Additional Funding: $90,000

Lead organization: Dr. Peter Centre

Project Name: COVID-19 Vaccine Micro-Funding and Community of Practice for Frontline Organizations: Promoting Community, Education, and Acceptance

Description: This project increases uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among vulnerable, underserved and equity-deserving populations by providing micro-contributions to high-impact community organizations. Funded projects use innovative approaches, incentives, and barrier reduction strategies to facilitate positive vaccination experiences among, for example, under-housed individuals and those living with substance use disorders. As of December 2021, micro-funding recipients have provided over 4,700 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with local health authorities.

Previous Funding: $537,301

Additional Funding: $833,000