$50M ad blitz to encourage vaccination

Past 12 days worse than any month in pandemic for new infections

The Ad Council announced plans Monday for what it described as “one of the largest public education campaigns in history” to convince Americans to get inoculated when coronavirus vaccines become available. The nonprofit council has set an initial goal of raising $50 million from the private sector, including the philanthropic community and corporations. It’s working in partnership with the COVID Collaborative, a national assembly of leading experts and institutions across health, education and the economy.

A recent Gallup survey indicated that only about 58% of U.S. adults are willing to get the vaccine. Experts say 70% are needed for “herd immunity” that could protect the nation.

“Widespread adoption of the COVID-19 vaccine is our generation’s ‘moonshot’ and will represent one of the largest public health interventions in our nation’s history,” said Lisa Sherman, Ad Council President and CEO. In the past 12 days, the United States has reported more coronavirus cases than it did in any full month of the pandemic. From Nov. 12 through Sunday, the country reported 1,978,287 new infections, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data shows. In the previous worst month of new cases, July, the United States reported 1,922,766 cases. And while more than a week remains in November, which has had 20 consecutive days of 100,000-plus cases, this month already has more deaths reported than in February or March, when the pandemic was building, but also more than in June, September or October.

At current rates, November’s death toll will surge past July’s, and then take on August’s. The number of fatalities this month alone – more than 25,600 Americans – roughly equals the death toll of the Revolutionary War.