Vaccine Acceptance: 3M Spotlight - Keeping Employees Safe
The vaccination efforts at 3M Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota have been led by Karyn Leniek, MD, MPH, Marie Kopp, RN, MA, and Karilyn Cline, RN, MPH, COHN. At 3M, their main priority is to improve the overall health of 3M employees, including the over 30,000 employees within the United States. Most manufacturing worksites and research and development centers have an onsite Occupational Health Nurse (OHN) to best serve the health needs of the employees. During the COVID-19 pandemic, OHNs were imperative to administrating influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) was pleased to partner with the 3M team to advance adult immunizations in the occupational health setting. Shortly after onboarding the Specialty Societies Advancing Adult Immunizations (SSAAI) grant project, Dr. Leniek was driven to create a successful project. She and her team work internally at 3M to streamline communication and strive to accomplish their program objectives including:
Reducing vaccine hesitancy,
Increasing vaccination rates for COVID-19 and influenza, and
Creating a bi-directional electronic feed between 3M’s electronic medical records (EMR) and state immunization information systems (IIS).
Reducing Vaccine Hesitancy
Dr. Leniek and the team focused on combating misinformation and hesitancy around vaccinations. First, they measured the pulse of employees’ needs and collected information about the reasons for their hesitancy. They gathered baseline information, such as demographics, health characteristics, and vaccination status. They also wanted to provide vaccine education through the 3MLearn online module, lunch and learn, and occupational health nurse consults to answer questions. At the lunch and learns, attendees learned about what to expect after being vaccinated, vaccine recommendations based on age and health, reasons why to be vaccinated, and ways to find their immunization records. During the site OHN consult, an informational handout about vaccines recommended for adults (based on CDC guidance) was personalized and reviewed with the employee. Some information outlined the vaccines needed for employees to perform their job functions safely.
Overall Findings
There were 126 participants who completed the pre-intervention survey and 113 that completed the post-intervention survey. The majority of participants were non-Hispanic white, male, married, held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and worked onsite in production. Half of the participants were older than 50 years old. Participant’s health characteristics included smokers, diabetics, and those who had respiratory medical conditions.
Vaccine Beliefs
There was an improvement in understanding the importance of how vaccines help themselves and protect the community and their family members. They understood the importance of vaccines and the effectiveness of them.
The participants believed that the information CDC provided was reliable and trustworthy. They also trusted their doctors' and nurses’ recommendations. The additional information about vaccines did improve the participants' understanding of vaccines, especially if it was delivered by a trusted person (i.e. OHN). There was an overall increase in receiving the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine compared to the prior booster.
Overall Findings
3M’s dedication to outreach, education, and quality improvement efforts has made a difference in combating vaccine hesitancy. The survey results suggested a greater acceptance of immunizations. Having a trusted medical healthcare professional to answer questions helps participants feel more comfortable and relaxed.
Future Plans
In the coming year, Dr. Leniek, Ms. Cline, and Ms. Kopp plan to optimize the survey questions and education modules. They will continue expanding the pilot to two more worksites, increasing the survey's sample size. Finally, they will continue to explore streamlining the connection between 3M’s EMR to the state IIS.
CDC Resources for Adult Immunizations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Standards for Adult Immunization Practice calls for healthcare professionals to help ensure that their adult patients are fully immunized. Learn more about the Standards for Adult Immunization Practice (SAIP) here.