How will Louisiana convince people to get the coronavirus vaccine? Here’s the $475K plan – The Advocate

Now that Louisiana is receiving COVID-19 vaccines each week, the state Health Department is turning its focus to a crucial part of reaching herd immunity and ending the pandemic by immunizing 70% of the states population: convincing people to get it.

The agency will spend about $475,000 on an ad campaign, produced by the Baton Rouge marketing and ad firm Feigley Communications, aimed at promoting the safety and efficacy of the available COVID-19 vaccines.

Their work will be informed in part by polling done by the Louisiana Public Health Institute, which conducted a survey about the pandemic in June and is launching another on vaccine willingness soon, in conjunction with the Louisiana Health Equity Task Force. That task force was formed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to address the pandemics disproportionate effects on minorities.

The effort by the Louisiana Department of Health to promote the vaccine is funded by a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said LDH spokesperson Aly Neel. The ads will run on TV, radio, online and in other forums, and was titled Phase Out COVID in the states vaccine playbook, which called for it to start in October. Neel said the agency decided to start the campaign in January mostly so it could gather more input from stakeholders.

Its trying to get the facts to every Louisianan, she said. We want every Louisianan to be vaccinated. Its building on this early momentum on positive stories about frontline health care personnel getting vaccinated and why.

The campaign also likely help determine how soon Louisiana reaches the threshold Gov. Edwards has identified as needed to end virus restrictions and return to normal, which is when about 70% of the population is immunized. Several national surveys, which the Louisiana Department of Health is using to help inform its decisions, show confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines have ticked upwards recently, though a significant chunk of people still say they likely wont get it. Polls by Pew and Gallup found roughly 60% of people said they would get vaccinated; the Kaiser Family Foundation found more than 70% were willing.

In Louisiana, the only publicly-released poll on vaccine willingness came in June, when the Louisiana Public Health Institute, known as LPHI, hired the New Orleans firm MDRG, Inc. to do a 1,126-respondent online poll on COVID-19 issues. The poll found 62% of men and 51% of women were definitely or probably going to get the vaccine.

The disparate impact of the pandemic, which has hit Black communities harder, also extends to peoples willingness to get vaccinated. National surveys show African Americans are more hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccines. The LPHI survey also suggested Louisiana has work to do to convince Black people that the vaccine is safe and effective if the state wants the population to get immunized. While 59% of White respondents said they would take the vaccine, 49% of Black respondents said the same.

The governor and top health leaders say they hope to address that distrust, in a state where about a third of residents are Black.

I think this is going to be a real challenge, said Dr. Thomas LaVeist, Tulane University School of Public Health Dean and co-chair of the Health Equity Task Force. The way to approach this, I think, is to acknowledge the distrust comes from a very real place. And not to try to pursue a narrative that the distrust is illogical.

LaVeist said the distrust among minorities of the health care system isnt only rooted in historical injustices like the Tuskegee experiment, in which the U.S. government withheld diagnosis and treatment for syphilis from Black men for decades. Ongoing disparities in the health care system a Black doctor recently died battling COVID-19 after complaining of racist medical care, for instance continue to fuel that hesitancy, he said.

Louisiana also faces political polarization surrounding the virus. Gov. Edwards, a Democrat, has been under fire from Republican lawmakers and other GOP officials over what they see as government overreach in his coronavirus restrictions. State House Republican lawmakers went as far as signing a petition to revoke all of the states virus restrictions, like the mask mandate and social distancing requirements at businesses, a matter that is still being litigated.

LaVeist said the state can only use facts and evidence to combat the idea the virus isnt a serious threat. More than 7,000 Louisiana residents have died from the disease, including recently the late Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a 41-year-old Republican with no known underlying health conditions.

One in 1,000 Americans have died from this virus over 10 months, he said. Were on a pace to capture the number of deaths seen during the civil war. If 340,000 deaths is not enough to take this seriously then I dont know whats going to make them take it seriously.

He also said the risks associated with the vaccine an extremely small share of the people who have received the vaccines so far have reported severe adverse reactions should be weighed against the risks from COVID-19.

Dr. Keith Ferdinand, of both Tulane University and the Health Equity Task Force, said the best way to overcome distrust of vaccines is with trusted messengers, or people who have a history of working for the Black community, like Black doctors, nurses, educators, ministers and political leaders.

But the state cant simply approach leaders and tell them to promote the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, Ferdinand said. There must be a process in place to let them vet the science and concerns, he said.

Ferdinand also said the gender disparity women were less likely to say they would take the vaccine than men in the Louisiana survey could be explained by the fact that women are often gatekeepers of health in their families.

They have a history of being more informed consumers of medications and therapies, he said, and need to have data and clear explanations of the risks and benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The decision to take a vaccine is an individual choice and must be respected, Ferdinand said. But we should make our decisions based on science and reason and avoid rumor, unsubstantiated social media reports and concepts that are not based in science.

Go here to see the original:

How will Louisiana convince people to get the coronavirus vaccine? Here's the $475K plan - The Advocate