The HHS COVID-19 public education campaign is a national initiative to increase public confidence in and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines while reinforcing basic prevention measures such as mask wearing and social distancing.
Through a nationwide network of trusted messengers and consistent, fact-based public health messaging, the campaign helps the public make informed decisions about their health and COVID-19, including steps to protect themselves and their communities.
“In January, we activated nearly 50 local community-based organizations that hosted in-person and virtual events, share resources and materials through trusted messengers and host vaccine pop-up clinics,” said Press Secretary for Vaccine Public Education Campaign Zachary Dembner. “Events will be happening nationwide and in priority markets to promote initial vaccines and booster shots.” This effort focuses on Americans who want to protect their health but may have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Another way Dembner and his team are spreading the word about COVID-19 vaccinations is through their COVID-19 Community Corps (CCC).
“CCC began as an effort to empower people and organizations to build vaccine confidence in their communities,” Dembner said. “Today, CCC continues all its original efforts and has expanded to include over 17,000 members that stretch across health care, sports, rural and faith organizations. CCC provides resources to trusted messengers so that they can open a space for vaccine promotion in person or online, reaching people where they are. Organizations have led vaccination conversations, testing clinics and social media promotion.”
HHS has also launched a website called We Can Do This that serves as a hub for volunteers to grab statistics and stories to share on the ground, supporting over 300,000 unique visits and more than 850,000 page views.
“It featured dozens of toolkits and over 95 videos in English and Spanish from trusted messengers providing fact-based information about COVID-19,” Dembner said.
The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign are organized around three themes, which are to slow the spread of COVID, build vaccine confidence and protect our nation.
“We’re growing every day as vaccinating as many people as possible becomes even more critical to our nation’s health, communities and economy,” Dembner said.
If you would like to learn more about the COVID-19 Community Corps and the We Can Do This campaign, visit the HSS website at www.wecandothis.hhs.gov.
