Canadian government officials’ experiences shaping public health communications during the COVID-19 pandemic

Our study describes how Canadian government officials developed and utilized health communications during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifies strategies to optimize communications for future health emergencies. We conducted a qualitative narrative study using semi-structured interviews with Canadian government officials. Participants were asked to describe their experiences with developing or disseminating COVID-19-related public health information. We probed for challenges and enablers to developing and disseminating these communications and recommendations for future communication strategies. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a framework approach. The study received research ethics approval. Twenty-five interviews were conducted between July 2020 and June 2021, representing the first three COVID-19 waves in Canada. Challenges to developing and disseminating COVID-19 communications included navigating evolving guidance, difficulty communicating COVID-19 risk, dealing with stigmatizing messages, and poor cross-agency coordination. Challenges evolved throughout the study period; during the second COVID-19 wave, participants experienced difficulty navigating COVID-19 evidence, while in the third wave, participants experienced challenges related to misinformation and the public’s vaccine confidence. Recommendations to optimize future public health communications included prioritizing disease prevention and vaccine availability messaging, targeted communications, increasing transparency, leveraging diverse communication platforms and messengers, and improving cross-agency coordination.