Belmana and IFF Research completed research for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities related to the COVID-19 community programmes, Community Vaccine Champions.
The programme was designed to improve health outcomes among communities at greater risk of COVID-19 by building greater awareness of, and trust in, local public health messaging and the COVID-19 vaccination. There was a focus on achieving this through building and strengthening networks with local voluntary and community organisations, as well as communities themselves. Community Vaccine Champions was delivered and evaluated between 2021 and 2023.
The evaluation report explores findings around the key outcomes and impacts of the programme. The Community Vaccine Champions evaluation uses a mixed-methods impact evaluation design to robustly understand the impacts of the second wave of the programme, its value for money, and the lessons learned around its delivery across 10 case study local authorities. Belmana undertook counterfactual impact analysis using NHS vaccination data, and then considered the benefits of the increased take up able to value some of these benefits.