ASCP’s recent media campaign to amplify its mandate that all Americans must be vaccinated against COVID-19 has reached more than 12 million people across the United States. The media campaign particularly targeted audiences in southern states where vaccination rates are low and rates of COVID-19 cases remain high and in LatinX communities where vaccine hesitation is prevalent.
Altogether, 24 interviews were conducted and aired 2,167 times to an audience of 12-plus million listeners. ASCP garnered national media coverage on NBC News Radio, Radio Bilingüe and Hispanic News Service. The vaccine mandate was also promoted on statewide networks in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and it aired on the #1 ranked News Talk information station in Los Angeles.
ASCP member Jeannette Guarner, MD, FASCP, professor of pathology in the School of Medicine at Emory University, took part in 11 interviews in Spanish, including some live radio interviews. She recalled a memorable moment when a radio listener called in and stated that “eating well and doing exercise would fend off the virus” and then asked why vaccinated people are afraid of those who are unvaccinated. Dr. Guarner said she is not afraid of those who are unvaccinated; however, she is afraid of becoming infected through exposure to an unvaccinated person and possibly passing the infection on to her granddaughters who cannot be vaccinated as they are under the age of one.
During the live interview, Dr. Guarner underscored the importance of ASCP’s call for a vaccine mandate as it would require those not yet vaccinated to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Communities of color have been disproportionately affected by this pandemic. As a Black woman in medicine, ASCP member Nicole Jackson, MD, MPH, FASCP, said she is proud to be involved in ASCP’s media campaign to convey the importance of being vaccinated. She has numerous friends and family members who are reluctant to get the vaccine because of the “mixed messaging throughout the pandemic about who and what to trust. As a physician, I am in a privileged position to be able to better discriminate truth versus fiction as it pertains to both COVID-19 and its vaccines,” said Dr. Jackson, Assistant Medical Examiner of Cook County, Illinois.
“For people of color in America, I hope I helped them through their decision-making process on whether the vaccines are safe - which they are - and whether to wait longer for vaccination, which they should not,” she added. “For my medical community, I hope we encourage some more people to get vaccinated so that we can free up beds and testing in overrun hospitals and laboratories and return to providing regular, timely care for the communities we serve. As a forensic pathologist and medical examiner, I have seen the fatal toll of the COVID-19 pandemic transition from these vulnerable populations to unvaccinated populations. Vaccinations against the virus are our best bet for decreasing morbidity and mortality, directly and indirectly, related to COVID-19.”
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