Texas is launching campaign to boost vaccine acceptance
Snappy music opens the 15-second video featuring a diverse bunch of Texans getting their shots at a COVID-19 vaccination site.
The ad ends with a Black woman imploring her peers to “do it for yourself, do it for your family, do it for your community.”
Then she feigns shooting a basketball through a hoop with her hands.
“Take the shot!” Another video released recently features vaccinated Texans over 65 talking about seeing their grandchildren again.
The ads, developed by the Texas Department of State Health Services and released in the past week, are the first in a $2.3 million public awareness campaign being launched by the state to increase acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and inform the public on how to get the shot.
It comes amid fears that not enough people will choose to be vaccinated in order to stop the spread of the virus, which has killed 39,000 Texans and which experts estimate can be overcome only if at least 75 percent of the population is immunized. National surveys indicate that as many as 40 percent of Americans are hesitant to get the shot, with those numbers disproportionately higher among communities of color.
Health experts and public officials widely agree that the vaccine is safe. Pfizer and Moderna reported that their vaccines are 95 percent and 94 percent effective, respectively, at protecting people from serious illness. And while no vaccine is without side effects, clinical trials for both Pfizer and Moderna show that
“You want people to want to get it (the vaccine), even if it’s not available yet.” Kolina Koltai, Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington
serious reactions are rare.
Most of the state’s efforts, including TV, radio and print buys, are in development amid ongoing market research but won’t be rolled out publicly until more vaccine supplies are available, state health officials said.
“At this point, the demand for vaccine is much greater than the supply,” DSHS spokesperson Chris Van Deusen said. “We’ll increase the resources we’re committing to promoting vaccination as the supply increases and as more people become eligible to be vaccinated.”
Early efforts in communities of color, which have been disproportionately affected by the virus but have less access to the vaccine than their white counterparts, are being led by some local governments and advocacy groups.
The demand in Texas right now far outpaces supply, with upward of 8 million Texans eligible for the injection but fewer than 3 million receiving at least one dose as of last Wednesday.
‘Timing is a really big challenge’
Texas health advocates say that while state officials are waiting for the vaccine supply to increase, it’s a good idea to get widespread awareness programs ready to launch.
“Leaders in their awareness efforts need to be honest and acknowledge the fact that people are and will experience frustration as they try and access a vaccine,” said Rekha Lakshmanan, director of policy at The Immunization Partnership in Houston. “This is the reality. Hopefully, these challenges will be mitigated when more vaccines come online, but leaders need to use this time right now before mass vaccination begins to develop ... awareness programs.”
But starting more targeted awareness campaigns early is an important step toward achieving a higher level of acceptance and avoiding delays in getting the shot administered to a large number of people when it is finally available, said Kolina Koltai, who studies vaccine misinformation at the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington.
“The more vulnerable populations where there’s higher rates of vaccine hesitancy, it definitely makes sense to target resources there,” Koltai said. “I would argue for sooner, rather than later. You want people to want to get it (the vaccine), even if it’s not available yet.”
Molly Sauer, a research associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said a lack of continuity and consistent messaging from various levels of government can confuse people who don’t know where to go for primary sources.
Meeting vaccine demand and spreading accurate information need to occur simultaneously, even if some states have delayed public messaging until now, she said.
“You’ve seen a lot of different approaches in different states,” Sauer said. “Some have tried to be really at the front, even if it meant they were getting ahead of some of the federal messaging. Others are playing catchup. Timing is a really big challenge.”
Texas’ rollout of its awareness campaign echoes the strategy of the Biden administration, which has delayed a planned vaccine acceptance and awareness campaign until more shots become available.
Meanwhile, nongovernmental groups around the country are moving forward with targeted messaging. NBA Cares is featuring Black and Hispanic athletes, medical professionals and prominent figures in pro-vaccination TV spots and online videos.
And the Ad Council, whose national health campaigns helped increase widespread acceptance of the polio vaccine in the 1950s, has launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative in partnership with the COVID Collaborative to combat vaccine hesitancy and created a toolkit for states and local community groups and governments to use for their own awareness campaigns.
The effort is focused on communities of color but will target a broader swath of the public as vaccine supplies grow.
A late December survey led by the Ad Council showed that public health officials were among the most trusted sources for vaccine information — while politicians were among the least trusted.
Across the country, campaigns in large states such as California and New York have concentrated on vulnerable populations and focused their efforts largely on informing people about the vaccine, rather than targeting hesitancy specifically.
California’s Vaccinate All 58 program aims to reach all of the state’s 58 counties with a focus on communities with limited access because of race, ethnicity or language barriers.
And cities from Nashville, Tenn., to New York City are ramping up their own messaging to encourage people to get the vaccine. In Florida, where the state-run awareness efforts largely focus on vaccine sites and availability, city officials in Miami have released public service announcements about the safety and necessity of the vaccine on YouTube and other social media, using public health figures and local officials to urge eligible residents to get their shots.
Texas plans statewide media blitz
Texas’ COVID-19 Vaccination Plan, released in October, says the state will focus mainly on educating the public about the importance and safety of the vaccine, how to obtain the shot and what to expect. The DSHS website has an FAQ and information about who is eligible and where vaccinations are available.
The state has already done some digital advertising to push the idea of vaccine safety and plans to use TV, radio, online and social media advertising, as well as outdoor advertising. A statewide media blitz planned for the months ahead will also target people in rural areas, another population that has shown higher hesitancy to the vaccine.
In addition to state efforts, a campaign initiated by the Texas AARP features a series of online question-and-answer sessions, called “Tele-Town Halls” to reduce hesitancy among older and more vulnerable residents, whose acceptance of the vaccine is especially critical to reduce deaths and hospitalization rates.