The nurse’s role in a patient-centered approach for reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during pregnancy: An American Academy of Nursing consensus paper

Abstract

The evidence shows that COVID-19 vaccines can reduce the risks of poor pregnancy outcomes. Yet, reluctance to vaccinate remains high in pregnant populations. In this paper, we take a precision health and patient-centered approach to vaccine hesitancy. We adopted the society-to-cells vaccine hesitancy framework to identify society, community, family, individual, and physiologic factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy. Nurses are particularly well-suited to impact the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Because of their proximity to the patient, nurses are positioned to provide individualized, timely health information, and clinical guidelines to assist patients with decision-making related to vaccinations. Recommendations are provided to bolster nurses’ engagement in precision health and patient-centered models of care to mitigate COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy.