Public Engagement

Final Summary Report and Proposal for the Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative (VPACE), September 2003, The Wingspread Public Engagement Planning Group

Report

A conference was convened in the summer of 2002 at Wingspread, the Frank Lloyd Wright home converted into a conference facility in Racine, Wisconsin. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Johnson Foundation in Wisconsin and by the U.S. Public Health Service Agencies working through the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO). Dr. Roger Bernier, Associate Director for Science, National Immunization Program (NIP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), helped to convene the group as part of a special assignment from the National Immunization Program. The assignment was to explore whether and how to enhance public engagement in government decision-making on vaccine policy issues. The National Vaccine Program Office contracted with The Keystone Center to provide neutral convening, facilitation and process guidance to the Wingspread group.

The convening process included scores of phone calls and numerous face-to-face meetings to identify both the key stakeholder groups and their credible representatives while also considering balance, diversity, inclusiveness and size.

The resulting Wingspread Public Engagement Planning Group (Planning Group) was comprised of approximately 40 representatives of key vaccine stakeholder groups including: health professionals, government agencies, industry, and representatives from three publics - the supportive public, the critical public, and the neutral public. Also in attendance were representatives from academia, minority groups, and public engagement consultants.

The question facing the Planning Group was whether or not increasing public engagement in decision-making about vaccines was a real need, and if so, how to best address this need. The Planning Group undertook a collaborative process (codified in their jointly developed and ratified “Protocols”) to examine the issue. The Group concluded, at least tentatively at its first meeting, that increasing public engagement was indeed worth exploring further. Subsequently, a smaller subset of the Planning Group was appointed by The Keystone Center to serve as a Steering Committee in further exploring public engagement. The purpose of the Steering Committee was to further develop the preliminary ideas presented at Wingspread into a specific proposal for increasing public engagement. This proposal would be subject to final approval by the full Planning Group at a second plenary session conference.

During the second and final plenary session in Denver in May 2003, the Wingspread Public Engagement Planning Group considered the recommendations of its Steering Committee and finalized its best judgment on how to enhance public engagement. The judgment is captured in this proposal to create The Vaccine Policy Analysis CollaborativE (VPACE), a three-year demonstration project designed to conduct dialogue and collaborative deliberations on selected vaccine issues with representative segments of the general public and stakeholder groups. The essential elements of the proposal are described below as well as pertinent background information and specifics about the Planning Group’s rationale and approach. Not all members present at the first Wingspread Conference could attend the second Denver conference. Some withdrew voluntarily from the collaborative planning process because of concerns about the process or the substance of deliberations. Other new participants were added as replacements whenever feasible.