Using a human centered approach for design, discovery, and development of an equitable, robust, and scalable public health website: the Vaccine Resource Hub.

Background: Vaccines save lives and can prevent or reduce the severity of many infectious diseases and their consequences. However, adult vaccination coverage remains low nationally and significant racial and ethnic disparities exist, leaving thousands of Americans unprotected.

Program background: Under the extensive Partnering for Vaccine Equity program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing funding and support to national, state, local and community-level partners, who are prioritizing equity in vaccination access among those groups experiencing disparities in immunization—including racial and ethnic minority groups, individuals living with disabilities, rural communities, older adults, individuals with chronic conditions, and more. This Vaccine Resource Hub is part of that effort.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Using an insight and feedback-driven approach developed from user-centered design and discovery, Insomniac Design, Inc. continually creates and enhances the features and functionality of the Vaccine Resource Hub. From the inception of the website, there have been significant efforts to bridge the gap between technology strategy and implementation, to ensure each new feature meets the expectations of all stakeholders. Key stakeholders include content managers, organizations funded through Partnering for Vaccine Equity, and the public. Efforts across the VRH occur within four phases: Discover, Establish, Innovate, and Create.

Conclusions: Leveraging innovative strategies and processes developed in the IT domain we were able to quickly and efficiently develop a functional and reputable website used across the public health community to build vaccine confidence. Continuous innovative improvements to search engine optimization (SEO), user interface and user design (UI/UX), and routine user opportunities for feedback have allowed us to achieve significant engagement on the VRH. Since December 2021, we have seen over 2,580 unique website viewers and 9,419 downloads of resources.

Implications for research and/or practice: Understanding your audience and their needs requires continuous openness and engagement with stakeholders. A willingness to build in feedback loops and quality assurance will lead to a more engaged and sustainable outputs. We provide a detailed description of how we incorporate a user centered design into the VRH and how other organizations can replicate this approach.