Lookee There—Arizona is Promoting Vaccines After All

 

Last night I was watching Colbert and at one of the breaks the video screen-capped above came on.  It was a big surprise: Cara Christ pitching for vaccinations.

In a recent post about Christ's impending retirement as director, I said that as far as I knew the Arizona Department of Health Services wasn't doing much to promote vaccines. Apparently, I didn't know far enough!

The public service announcement (PSA) was published just one week ago on the ADHS YouTube channel. It has a fair number of views for something of local relevance and being only a week old (around 45k as I write this).

There are about a dozen other PSAs on the site. However, they were all published 3-4 months ago. They have wildly varying numbers of views (low 121, high 931K). Not sure what could account for that.  

They are targeting particular groups. Three are in Spanish. Three have black spokespeople. There are celebrities like musician Vaughn Willis, and sports stars Luis Gonzales and Tom Chambers.  There is even a message from a pastor, which is the kind of "micro-influencer" experts are recommending for these kinds of pitches. 

The most recent one addresses the issue of breakthrough cases, and poses the question "why should I get vaccinated if I can still get infected?" The answer is that it's widely available (not a response to the question) and it reduces your chances of getting infected and means a milder case if you do (good responses to the question).

Now it's still possible that ADHS is not doing much to promote vaccines. But at least this is something.  

It's is the first time I've seen a one of the PSAs (thought to be fair I do my best to avoid watching commercials). I have no idea if this was a paid spot (if so how big the buy was) or one of those freebie PSAs stations run to fulfill their license obligations, usually in the wee hours.

If it was a paid spot, I question its placement on the Colbert show, which is widely watched by liberals so is preaching to the largely-vaccinated choir. Fox news would have been a better choice.

If ADHS does more of this, here is some free advice, based on recent research. First, address salience. Many people don't get the vaccine because they don't think they are at risk and that the disease is no big deal.  

Second, address the big three objections of the hesitant: Side-effects may cause me to miss work, the vaccine was produced too quickly, and the vaccine might cause fertility problems. There are good responses to all of these objections.  

Finally keep using local influencers and celebrities to deliver the messages. 



   


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