You’ve probably seen or heard this phrase a lot recently: “We can do this.”
That’s the slogan for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services‘ “We Can Do This” / “Juntos Sí Podemos” COVID-19 Public Education Campaign. This national initiative aims to increase public confidence in uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and other basic prevention measures, such as mask wearing and social distancing.
The “We Can Do This” campaign materials are in English, Spanish, and more.
The campaign also has a “live” event series that pairs medical experts with prominent influencers to share information to help people feel confident about getting the vaccine. The events occur in the places where people already consume content, including social media, podcasts, and YouTube.
The effort is supported by many public health organizations. Sports associations, entertainers, rural leaders, Latino leaders, labor and union organizations, and veterans’ organizations also participate.
“The Biden administration is committed to expanding access to vaccines, with a unique focus on ensuring those hit hardest by COVID-19 and at highest risk for severe illness or death get vaccinated,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Through this unique, exciting new partnership between ACL and CDC, HHS will work alongside advocates to help older adults and people with disabilities get the services and assistance they need in order to get vaccinated and have the security of knowing they are protected from COVID-19.”
Bilingual COVID-19 Vaccine Awareness Information from ‘We Can Do This’
The “We Can Do This” campaign covers over 100 topics, including many focused on Latinos and in Spanish.
Latino toolkits include:
- Communication Toolkit for the General Public (Spanish). These are materials about COVID-19 for partner organizations to share with Latinos.
- Essential Workers in Agriculture Toolkit (English and Spanish). These are materials for leaders and essential workers of the agriculture sector.
- Community Health Workers Toolkit (English and Spanish). These are materials for community workers and organization that communicate and advocate for individuals and their community health needs.
- Puerto Rico Toolkit (English and Spanish). These are materials for community organizations in Puerto Rico.
- Parents of Adolescents Toolkit (Spanish). This provides CDC’s information on COVID-19 vaccination for parents of adolescents.
Latino fact sheets include:
- How to Talk to Your Community About COVID-19 Vaccines for Community Health Workers (English and Spanish). These contain information on the vaccines and preventive measures for Latinos.
- COVID-19 Vaccines: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions for Essential Workers in Agriculture (English and Spanish). These answer five frequently asked questions tailored to the Latino works in agriculture and related fields.
- Vaccine Confidence Presentation for Latino Audiences (English and Spanish). This presentation has photos on vaccine facts and FAQs for Latino audiences.
- Lo que deben saber las personas que han recibido la vacuna completa (Spanish). This provides recommendations for people who have received the full vaccine.
- Comunicándose con el público general (Spanish). This has details on the impact of COVID-19. It also has talking points for increasing confidence in vaccines, and tips on how to speak to Latinos.
Latino videos include:
- La mejor protección contra el COVID (Spanish). This educates the public about the best protection against COVID-19.
- Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 no contienen el virus que causa el COVID (Spanish). This helps build vaccine confidence by talking about COVID-19 vaccines do not contain the virus that causes COVID-19.
- ¿Estás preocupado por los efectos secundarios de las vacunas? (Spanish). This helps build vaccine confidence by talking about vaccine safety and the side effects.
- Las vacunas contra el COVID le enseñan a tu cuerpo (Spanish). This helps building vaccine confidence by talking about what COVID-19 vaccines teach your body.
The campaign material also contain social media graphics, flyers, and radio and TV ads. These all aim to help the Latino population build vaccine confidence and virus prevention.
Other Campaigns Emerging to Promote COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence
Latinos are getting vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccine at much lower rates.
In addition to the We Can Do This campaign, many other public health organizations are trying to build vaccine confidence for Latino communities through campaigns.
Hispanic Federation launched COVID-19 VIDA (Vaccination Immunization Dosage Awareness). This aims to help Latino-led community health centers across the U.S. get Latinos vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The Latino Community Foundation has a three-step action plan to build awareness, invest in education, and increase vaccine confidence.
The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative. The campaign. “It’s Up To You,” has ads to reach key communities who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. They have specific ads and campaign pages for Latinos. The campaign urges audiences to visit GetVaccineAnswers.org (DeTiDepende.org in Spanish) to get the latest information about COVID-19 vaccines.
UnidosUS launched “Esperanza Hope for All Campaign.”
They also have a mobile educational tour running through May 23. The tour will take , will take information about the COVID-19 vaccines directly into Hispanic neighborhoods across the country, including rural and urban communities where health resources are lacking or difficult to access.
The Salud America! Campaigns to Promote COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence
At Salud America!, we launched a “Latino COVID-19 Vaccine Change of Heart” bilingual storytelling campaign. We are working to move Latinos from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidenceby uplifting the stories of real Latinos who overcame misinformation, got the vaccine, reconnected with family, and are helping end the pandemic.
Find and share Latino #VaccineChangeofHeart stories (with videos, fact sheets, and social graphics) in English and Spanish.
Help Latinos find a vaccine near them at http://salud.to/findvaccine (English) or http://salud.to/vacunate (Spanish)!
You can also share our Salud America! “Juntos, We Can Stop COVID-19” digital communication campaign in English or Spanish to help Latino families and workers take action to slow the spread of coronavirus, including wearing masks and getting the vaccine when available.
The post We Can Do This: The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign in English, Spanish appeared first on Salud America.