Denver — As a rural police sergeant, Carlos Cornejo is not a typical social media influential person. But his Spanish Facebook page, with 650,000 followers, was exactly what Colorado leaders were looking for when they recruited residents to convince those who hated vaccines the most.
Cornejo, 32, is one of dozens of influencers, from busy moms and fashion bloggers to African refugee advocates and religious leaders, to stop the nasty summer surge of COVID. Expecting to receive payment from the state to post vaccine information at the local level. 19.
Colorado’s #PowertheComeback target audience is the focus of institutions that are historically underserved and seeking to increase immunization rates, especially with regard to Latin Americans, Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, and healthcare. It has been tailored to the other color communities that have become.
This is part of a US state and city-based move to reach the most vaccine-hating people at the neighborhood level using local social media influencers. Health authorities such as Chicago, Oklahoma City, San Jose, California and New Jersey have similar campaigns.
The initiative is trying lottery, college scholarships, and other incentives to help lower vaccination rates as Colorado and other states dominate the country with highly contagious variants of the delta virus. It will be done afterwards.
Cornejo’s Facebook page is a widely trusted source of what police are doing and what they can’t do against Latin Americans in the Colorado River Valley.
“It started last year when we saw false information that had a direct impact on our department. Police-like rumors arrested people without masks,” said Cornejo, a 10-year veteran of the rifle police. I was there. ” “Or, when you get vaccinated, people get hooked. Sometimes people are just scared. I give them factual information because there is nothing political about it. , They can make informed decisions. “
It remains to be seen if social media pushes will move the needle unvaccinated in the United States.
Last week, the country reached a milestone of taking at least one dose in 70% of adults. It was a month after President Joe Biden’s target date, but unlike other countries that are lacking, most people can easily take shots in the United States.
Jeff Niederdeppe, Director of Health Communication Research at Cornell University, said: Initiative and co-director of the Cornell Health Equity Center.
It is likely that the scale will be overturned by the increasing number of private companies and organizations that require vaccination of employees and patrons.
In Colorado, the state pays citizen influencers up to $ 1,000 per month for work on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and other platforms. Influencers post about their vaccine experience, dispel myths and misinformation, warn followers to pop-up vaccine clinics, and direct them to information provided by state health authorities.
Aurora’s 29-year-old fashion blogger, Abena Antiwiwaa, writes about her nerve-wracking decision to get vaccinated on Instagram. Born of sickle cell anemia, Antwiwaa requires monthly blood transfusions. She was worried about her weak immunity and potential side effects.
“I was very nervous about getting vaccinated, and I shared that experience,” said Antwiwaa, who suffered from a temporary arm injury. “I got the sympathy of many people.”
Save one: Vaccine skeptics who engaged Antwiwaa in safety concerns. Eventually, after a short while, he was shot.
“It made all the difference to me,” Antwiwaa said, agreeing to run the campaign.
That’s what marketing companies like Denver-based The Idea Marketing, California-based Xomad, and Chicago-based Res Publica Group want. They are hired by the Health Organization to identify local influencers and coordinate messaging.
Xomad quickly tweaks messages for influencers, content creators, and health officials to respond to events such as the suspension of Johnson & Johnson vaccine use last spring, new online false alarms, and an expansion of the target age group. Or we have developed a platform that can be changed. shot.
Rob Perry, CEO and founder of Xomad, found a direct correlation between the surge in local influencer posts on Instagram and rising daily vaccination rates in a July study by the Knight Foundation and the City of San Jose. He states that he found a relationship.
“Even in Silicon Valley, they needed help to reach a community of immigrants, blacks, Latin Americans, and Vietnamese,” Perry said. “No one bashes anti-vaxxers overhead. The last thing these trusted messengers want to do is to polarize their followers. It’s their follower’s choice.”
So-called “nano” and “micro” influencers, with 10,000 and less than 100,000 followers, respectively, are in a good position to reach Gen Z and Millennials who get news from social media, according to health officials. I have.
The Oklahoma City County Health Department announced this approach in late 2020, hiring Xomad to recruit local influencers and suggesting ways for followers to celebrate the stay-at-home order, agency spokeswoman Molly Fleming said. rice field. She said the campaign changed with the deployment of vaccines and could change again with non-COVID-19 issues such as the emergence of booster shots and the recent increase in syphilis cases.
One of Oklahoma’s influencers is a 40-year-old street dancer, artist of descendants of Chicano, Chickasaw and Choctaw, and a Pandora Marie who has built 30,000 strong Instagram followers. She instills a reference to Native American culture and dance in her message.
“When I started sharing COVID posts, I asked people questions, which is always a good sign,” Marie said.
Fleming acknowledged that it is difficult to measure the number of vaccinations between the ages 18-29 and minorities offered by the strategy.
However, authorities can see the interaction with the posts of the inhabitants. “And when you’re spending money on public health, that’s important,” she said. “If we pay for a sign, we don’t know if you saw it or if it changed your life altogether.”
In Chicago, the Cook County Health Department has worked with influential people such as McKinley Nelson, a young activist who uses basketball and entertainment to protect young people in the city from street violence. Its #MyShot campaign encourages people aged 18-34 in the black and Hispanic communities to look for vaccine information.
The campaign, soon called Life is Better Vaxxed, is part of a multi-tiered communications strategy that includes vaccine information advertising at gas stations, barber shops, and bar coasters, said Caryn Stancik, a spokeswoman for Cook County Health.
“The mission is fair, as it has always been for us,” Stansick said. “Our digital strategy targets individual regions and zip codes. These communities are doing as much as they can to get people vaccinated and deal with misinformation. . “
It seems to be helping, she said.
“I don’t want to say that this alone works,” Stansick said. “But people are coming to hundreds of pop-up local clinics based on digital reviews, so the information resonates.”
Return to the rifle, Sgt. Cornejo has built a Facebook follow-up that far exceeds the town’s approximately 9,700 inhabitants, and has produced videos primarily focused on police work. He plays the guitar and occasionally sings ballads, all of which love what he considers to be a large family.
“I got a COVID last year and shared that experience,” said a 32-year-old. “Does the vaccine protect you 100%? No. But I compare it to wearing a seatbelt. It doesn’t guarantee that nothing bad will happen, but it will save your life. Your chances of saving are much higher. “
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