On March 9 the Sangamon County Board approved a $62,700 plan to partner with SIU School of Medicine in Springfield for a vaccine media campaign. The goal is to "increase vaccine confidence among communities of color," Rikeesha Phelon, SIU Medicine's executive director of marketing, communication and engagement, said during the county board meeting. Phelon told the board the most important thing regarding this effort was to "make sure that community stakeholders know we're listening to them."
Stakeholder sessions are ongoing and have happened multiple times over the past few months. SIU tested multiple social media campaign ideas and listened to community concerns. Phelon said representatives from NAACP Illinois, Springfield Urban League, Black Lives Matter Springfield, faith groups and others have attended the sessions.
The coalition settled on three education campaign themes – availability and access, clarifying facts and promoting family and community safety. "What we found was not surprising but reassuring," Phelon told Illinois Times about the sessions. More people want the vaccine than not. Phelon said residents are concerned, however, with the lack of vaccine access for people of color. She also said some people still have questions about the vaccine's efficacy and safety. "Some of that is filtered through historical mistrust that they have, for good reason, about health care," Phelon said. "For others, this just feels new to them."
The first phase of the education campaign is focused on giving people facts about the different vaccines. SIU Medicine is working to build trust with the community and part of that process is better understanding where people get their information. Phelon said some older adults reported they get their information from the young people in their family. Others get information from relatives who work in health care. And there were some relying on social media and news outlets.
The education campaign is launching this month and the media team plans to regularly post videos promoting vaccine confidence and community safety. But the primary focus of phase one of the media campaign is to give people the facts and "information they need to make their own decisions," said Phelon. Organizations included in the efforts are ready to distribute tool kits and printable handouts to equip businesses and organizations in the county with vaccine education materials and resources.
Phase two will broadcast messaging about COVID-19 vaccines. Sangamon County residents can expect billboards, print, radio and TV ads and paid content on social media explaining the facts and pushing back against vaccine misinformation. Timing of that is important, Phelon said. "We have really had some concerns about making sure that when we do go live with a large PR campaign that we can match that to people's access and availability of the vaccine."
Matching vaccine supply and expectation is crucial to building community trust, she said. "Over-promoting the vaccine to some communities and them feeling like they don't have access could further damage any good standing that we are trying to build."
Cautious optimism
Gail O'Neill, director of the Sangamon County Department of Public Health (SCDPH), said during the March 9 county board meeting that there's cause for cautious optimism. The rate of community spread is relatively low compared to prior months, though, "COVID is still a dangerous illness, and that's one of the reasons we encourage people to vaccinate," she said. "It looks like we're on the road to some great recovery."
O'Neill said the department is urging residents to use its hotline numbers, especially those who are less tech-savvy and may have issues with scheduling appointments online. She admitted some have problems getting through to someone on the phone, but those eligible should call every day as new appointments regularly become available based on cancellation. O'Neill said there were 130 cancellations between both the Illinois State Fairgrounds site and the clinic at the SCDPH building on South Grand Avenue on March 7, a Sunday.
O'Neill said a mobile team has partnered with the Illinois National Guard to come to people in need of vaccination. As of March 9, the unit had given more than 600 shots. Mobile units have given shots to the elderly and homeless and have also traveled to public school sites and an addiction treatment center. Walgreens was also set to partner with the county, Salvation Army and Capital Township for a vaccine clinic over the March 13-14 weekend to distribute at least 800 Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which only require one dose.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, as of March 14, 17.04% of Sangamon County residents have been vaccinated. To find out who is eligible for vaccines and to schedule appointments, head to scdph.org. The hotline number for the Illinois State Fairgrounds site is 217-210-8801 and for the clinic at 2833 South Grand Ave. E. the number is 217-321-2606. On Friday, the governor's administration announced a new, toll-free "Vaccine Appointment Call Center" for residents throughout the state. The number is: 833-621-1284.
Contact Madison Angell at [email protected].
