A different approach to reach vaccination holdouts in rural areas



New Ads Target Vaccine Holdouts in Rural Pennsylvania
Three groups turn to local newspapers for public health messaging
Jennifer Henderson
medpagetoday

 

 As rural counties in Pennsylvania continue to see lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than other parts of the state, three organizations have deployed a unique approach to hopefully reach more holdouts.

Flashy lottery prizes or mandates are not on their agenda. Instead, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP), the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP), and the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition (PAIC) are collaborating
on a
series of ads placed in local newspapers.

Amy Wishner, MSN, RN, APHN-BC, a consultant for PA AAP, who originated the concept, told
MedPage Today in an email that she felt "many very reasonable questions about COVID-19 and other immunizations could be addressed differently." She also noted that outreach via local newspapers was a method that hadn't yet been tried. (Previous campaigns
covered busses, billboards, and radio stations.)

PA AAP pediatrician leader Bonnie Offit, MD, who helped craft the ads for local newspapers, told
MedPage Today that it's important for the organizations to continue to try to reach more people in rural communities, where lower COVID vaccination rates have persisted in Pennsylvania and in other parts of the country.

"At first, we thought it was just access," she said. But after months and months, it appears to be hesitancy or reluctance. There's a real need to "pull out different ways to reach people," she added. ...

 

 

--

Full post: https://resiliencesystem.org/different-approach-reach-vaccination-holdouts-rural-areas

Manage my subscriptions: https://resiliencesystem.org/mailinglist

Stop emails for this post: https://resiliencesystem.org/mailinglist/unsubscribe/20330