To be successful in any public health effort, campus leaders and college health professionals must demonstrate trustworthiness. With significant portions of GenZ reporting mistrust of higher education, it is critical that higher education professionals understand how to cultivate and protect students’ trust in them. The Trustworthiness series will help participants understand and apply the principles of trustworthiness to their work and educate campus leadership.

Rapidly evolving evidence and changing guidance, as well as rampant and politicized misinformation and disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic pose challenges for health literacy, including mental health literacy. It is unknown how many students are familiar with these concepts nor how many campus personnel, including college health professionals and mental health providers, are familiar with current techniques and strategies for teaching students about digital health literacy.

Join the CoVAC Initiative for a presentation on the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, frameworks for assessing and responding to vaccine misinformation, and examples of how to respond to vaccine misinformation in a campus community. Featuring presenters from the Virality Project, the Internet Observatory, and Boston University.

Join us for the first session in the HECCOP and CoVAC Equity Series. In this session, the presenters will discuss the necessity of acknowledging the totality of COVID-19's disparate impact on marginalized communities and the value of listening to these communities to better understand the root causes of mistrust in the health care system and vaccine refusal. Attendees will get guidance on how they can examine their own practices and procedures - and biases and assumption - to address the needs of marginalized communities in the short- and long-term, beyond COVID-19.

Join Patricia Novy, PhD, Senior Director of Medical Affairs at Moderna, for an introductory discussion on the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine. Dr. Novy will present the science behind mRNA vaccine development, the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine's safety and efficacy profile, likely side effects with a focus on younger populations, vaccine distribution operations and logistics, and best practices in vaccine administration. There will be extensive time for Q&A.

Four senior administrators/health center directors from a large university, a medium-sized university, and a public historically black college will discuss the decision-making process, planning, and public health considerations for holding commencement activities. The session will cover: • Public health considerations/concerns • Implementation plan for health measures • Guest policies • Communication to students, families, and stakeholders • Factors that could necessitate a change in plans

Two expert infectious disease epidemiologists and a chief health officer will speak about COVID-19 variants, genomic sequencing, and the impact of variants on college campuses. The session will include: • Facts about the variants currently in the U.S. and which ones are of concern • Information about genomic sequencing and its availability • Vaccine coverage for variants • How to plan for potential cases on campus and how to communicate information about this effectively to administrators, the campus community and families

Join our presenters as they discuss the unique challenges to implementing campus mitigation efforts at rural, small and medium sized colleges and universities. Each presenter will discuss the obstacles the pandemic has posed on their campuses and the innovative ways they overcame these challenges.