One year ago this week marks the moment when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Since then, more than half a million people in the United States have lost their lives to this highly infectious disease. The continued rollout of COVID-19 vaccines offers hope to end the pandemic, but widespread adoption of the vaccine in every community will be required to end the pandemic.
To educate and encourage vaccination, the American Lung Association has released a new public service announcement (PSA)
To protect the overall population and those most vulnerable, we need a sufficiently high proportion of the population to get vaccinated to stop the pandemic. Yet approximately 40% of the public have not yet made a firm decision to get vaccinated as soon as vaccines are available to them, according to Ad Council research fielded by Ipsos Public Affairs in February 2021.
“There are many who are undecided about vaccination, and research shows that these individuals want to learn more before making a decision. As the nation’s champion of lung health, the American Lung Association has been sharing science-based, trusted public health information since the beginning of the pandemic and we continue to do so through this new campaign,” said American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer.
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The digital PSA – also available for TV and radio – leverages the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine to demonstrate in an emotional and visually compelling way the critical importance of vaccination to move us toward a return to the life we love. Designed to be shared to spark conversations about the importance of vaccination, the PSA encourages viewers to learn more about the health impacts of COVID-19 and vaccination at Lung.org/vaccine-facts.
“We hope everyone shares this PSA with those they care about who may be undecided,” Wimmer said. “By demonstrating the appeal of returning to activities they love and the promise of a better tomorrow, the campaign shares a message of hope and points them to additional fact-based information about the vaccine, so they can make informed decisions about COVID-19 vaccination for themselves and their families.”
Made possible through the Lung Association’s COVID-19 Action Initiative, the goal of this effort is to reach everyone with science-based information about the safety, efficacy and availability of the COVID-19 vaccine.
