# Addressing COVID 19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural Community Pharmacies Reducing Disparities Through an Implementation Science Approach

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2022 · $644,347

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionally impacted rural communities, which are often health
professional shortage areas that lack health care infrastructure, including hospitals1-3. When compared to
urban populations, individuals living in rural areas are more vaccine hesitant8,9, have a higher prevalence of
comorbid health conditions that increase their risk for severe COVID-19 complications12, and are at greater risk
from SARS-CoV-2 variants due to lower vaccination rates and fewer vaccination mandates33,40. Thus,
interventions to increase vaccine uptake in rural areas are greatly needed. As the most accessible healthcare
professional in rural areas4,5 and one of the most trusted sources of medication information16, community
pharmacists are well-positioned to address vaccine hesitancy with underserved, rural populations.
Because vaccination conversations are sensitive and often politically charged, pharmacists need
implementation support, including training and ongoing guidance to deliver evidence-based vaccine
hesitancy counseling interventions18. Implementation facilitation, in which trained facilitators coach and
troubleshoot problems with professionals as they implement new practices, increases adoption of practices
with fidelity23-26. However, implementation facilitation generally, and virtual facilitation (e.g., video coaching) in
particular, has not been systematically studied in community pharmacy settings. The need to examine the
effectiveness of virtual facilitation as a means to increase vaccine hesitancy counseling and COVID-19
vaccination is of great importance given the large travel distances to rural areas and social distancing.
Our goal is to test if virtual facilitation increases rural pharmacists’ ability to implement COVID-19 vaccine
hesitancy counseling when compared to a “standard” implementation approach (e.g., training and
dissemination of implementation support tools). Using a rural pharmacy practice-based research network
(PBRN) that spans 5 southeastern states, we propose two aims. Aim 1 involves a stepped-wedge trial with 30
rural pharmacies to test whether virtual facilitation outperforms the standard approach in increasing: (a) the
fidelity with which pharmacists implement the vaccine hesitancy counseling intervention and (b) the number of
vaccine hesitant patients who agree to receive the vaccine. Using a project-sponsored data collection system,
we will gather data on implementation outcomes, including fidelity and effectiveness. In Aim 2, we will conduct
a cost assessment to explore the sustainability of virtual facilitation. We are uniquely positioned to test these
competing implementation approaches and leverage rural community pharmacists to engage in vaccine
hesitancy counseling in rural communities that have low vaccination rates.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10522460
- **Project number:** 1R01MD016992-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** GEOFFREY M CURRAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $644,347
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-22 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10522460

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10522460, Addressing COVID 19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural Community Pharmacies Reducing Disparities Through an Implementation Science Approach (1R01MD016992-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10522460. Licensed CC0.

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