New project aims to develop a digital health solution for promoting COVID-19 vaccination Patients with compromised health conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, are at enhanced risk of contracting COVID-19. Unfortunately, these patients are also hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine because of their condition. A new project, led by Jessie Chin, assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), aims to develop an accessible, generalizable, and efficient digital health solution for promoting vaccination among vulnerable populations. The project, "Building a Motivational-Interviewing Conversational Agent (MintBot) for Promoting COVID-19 Vaccination Among People with Multiple Sclerosis," has received a $74,992 grant through Jump ARCHES, a partnership between OSF HealthCare and the Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC and its College of Medicine in Peoria. Collaborators include co-principal investigators Suma Bhat (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Chung-Yi Chiu (Kinesiology and Community Health) from UIUC and co-investigator Dr. Jared Rogers and consultant Dr. Brian Laird from OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center.