NASWVA Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence
Join NASW’s “Connect to End COVID-19” effort, an initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support social workers and their clients in informed vaccine decision-making. Complimentary webinars and CEUs are available! Learn more about how you can get involved in the exciting “Connect to End COVID-19” campaign and read below.
Every day many more people are becoming partially or fully vaccinated, but there are still others who have not been vaccinated, despite the demonstrated safety of the vaccines and their high degree of effectiveness in preventing severe illness and death.
Social workers, as professionals who provide services in a wide range of community settings and as trusted messengers of health information, are in a unique position to promote COVID-19 vaccine confidence, access, and uptake—particularly among populations with low vaccination rates and high vulnerability to severe forms of infection.
NASW and the NASW Foundation have partnered with the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute (HBRT) at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work to execute a CDC-funded initiative that supports social workers and their clients in informed vaccine decision-making.
The Virginia Chapter is among NASW chapters that are actively involved in supporting social workers involved in these critical conversations with clients across our state and our profession’s specialties. This microsite serves as a resource clearinghouse, a connection to complimentary and relevant trainings by NASW, the NASW Foundation and HBRT, and a provider of news and trends intended to keep you abreast of the ever-changing COVID-19 landscape in Virginia. Of particular emphasis is engaging special populations that may be more vulnerable or historically underserved such as Black individuals, communities of color, young children and adolescents, and rural residents.
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Additional news and resources will be added regularly, but a good first step for every social worker is to watch the two short videos on this page, one from Virginia Chapter Executive Director Debra Riggs, CAE, inviting your participation and giving some state-specific information, and the other by national campaign leaders explaining the innovative initiative and partnerships that NASW has developed to provide evidence-based information and guidance for informed decision-making.
COVID-19 Trends and Statistics for Virginia
"NASW's exciting 'Connect to End COVID-19' initiative gives all Virginia social workers complimentary specialized training, resources, and information unique to our state's special populations, so you can save lives by fully informing clients about COVID-19 vaccination. Clients who are guided along their decision-making journey with evidence-based facts by trusted, trained social workers are then prepared and positioned to choose what's best for them and their families."
--Virginia Chapter President Kathy Murphy Stephenson, MSW, LCSW, C-ASWCM