Province rushing ad blitz promoting vaccinations
Saskatchewan's government is looking for a professional team to produce commercials for a “developing campaign” encouraging residents to get a COVID -19 vaccine.
A tender issued last week says the Ministry of Health seeks firms that can create “emotional and impactful” advertisements within “rush timelines” that would see as many as six commercials delivered by early March.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Jennifer Graham said in a statement that the ads would be “part of a developing campaign, which will include various forms of traditional and social media” and would complement existing publicity efforts.
“To get back to the things we love to do, and reconnect with family and friends, people need to get vaccinated,” the tender reads.
The move comes as vaccinations begin to slowly ramp up in the province, and as some worry about a small percentage of residents who may decline a vaccine or at least not actively seek it.
While social media is awash in photos of health-care workers and older adults receiving their first doses, University of Saskatchewan epidemiologist Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine warned that a small but potentially significant number of people may still have qualms.
Muhajarine has helped lead an ongoing Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Unit (SPHERU) survey measuring residents' attitudes toward the pandemic. At the beginning of January about eight in 10 respondents said they would get a vaccine once it became available, up from around six in 10 during the fall. Muhajarine said around 14 to 15 per cent of respondents are undecided, often out of concerns about safety.
The vaccines developed by Pfizer/biontech and Moderna went through the same safety trials as all other approved vaccines in Canada and have a 95 per cent efficacy rate, exceptionally high for any vaccine.
“These are people who are sitting on the fence, who we want to come down on the vaccine readiness side of things,” Muhajarine said.
“If you're asking me how big a problem or issue is this, I would
rather say that they are important, because we want to convert them to the side of vaccine readiness rather than vaccine refusal.”
A SPHERU brief shared with the Ministry of Health found residents in rural and mid-sized cities were less likely to be vaccine-ready, though the trend has been improving in recent weeks. Those respondents tended to report higher-risk activities, were less likely to use masks or practise social distancing and were less likely to believe COVID-19 was a threat to themselves or their communities.