“I’ve taken a vaccine, my family knows I’ve taken a vaccine. They’ve done well, I’ve done well, and I want you to have that same comfort of it being safe as well as being effective.”
That’s part of the message from a Houston family physician in the latest Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) television and radio ad campaign on the importance of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The campaign specifically targets populations that research shows tend to be less likely to get vaccinated, DSHS said.
The first ad, launched this week, features Farris Blount, MD, talking to fellow Black Texans about the importance of getting vaccinated.
“As African Americans, I understand there have been some issues here as it relates to medical care, historically. We’re all in this pandemic,” Dr. Blount says in the ad. “It’s important to know your history, but you shouldn’t let your history keep you from moving forward. And let’s get vaccinated.”
The campaign also includes ads in Spanish from Emilie Prot, DO, the DSHS regional medical director in Harlingen.
Find the ads on the DSHS YouTube page, and share them on your social media accounts.
“Our research shows that individual health care professionals are the most trusted voices for people deciding whether to get vaccinated,” DSHS Commissioner John Hellerstedt, MD, said in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will continue to share messages encouraging various communities to get vaccinated. We are also relying on trusted voices within those communities to speak up and let their neighbors know that the available COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and the best way to end the pandemic and restore normalcy.”
Of the more than 10 million Texans who have received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday, 40% are white, state data show. Hispanics make up 27%, with Blacks at 7%. Almost 20% are classified as “other” or “unknown,” the data show.
Part of the hesitance and distrust in vaccines – and medicine in general – among Black and Latino populations is based in part on those groups being underrepresented among physicians, Janeana White, MD, an internal medicine and pediatric specialist who is also the medical director for disease control and clinical prevention at Harris County Public Health, told Texas Medicine magazine.
“If you don’t see people who represent you in health care, you’re going to be less likely to trust the health care system and less likely to get health care,” Dr. White said.
And be sure to check out the Texas Medical Association’s Vaccines Defend What Matters multimedia public health education and advocacy campaign, which is also aimed at reducing vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccination rates in Texas.
The campaign includes a social media toolkit that features a wide variety of downloadable and shareable materials – available in English and Spanish – to post to your social media channels.
TMA’s Vaccines Defend What Matters is funded in 2021 by the TMA Foundation thanks to major support from H-E-B, TMF Health Quality Institute, Cook Children’s Health Care System, and gifts from physicians and their families.