The ads are part of a $ 250 million Covid-19 educational campaign run by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which will include a podcast hosted by “a known person” outside the government, the executive said.
In addition to the podcast, Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor and host of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots”, narrated an ad about vaccines for the government campaign, according to the executive and a Biden government official.
Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith, leader of the Biden administration’s Covid-19 equity task force, said on Sunday CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the government is “about to launch a national education campaign synchronized with the increase in vaccine supply.
Asked by Margaret Brennan of CBS about how the White House will convince younger Republicans and non-Biden supporters who are more reluctant to receive the vaccine, Nunez-Smith said there would be exclusive messages for different groups within the United States.
“We are preparing to launch this national public education campaign that will work closely with trusted messengers, influencers and others to reach everyone,” said Nunez-Smith in “Face the Nation”. She did not give a specific date.
Work on the campaign began last fall, but ads promoting vaccines have not yet been released because the vaccine is still in short supply and health officials do not want to create additional demand, a Biden government official told CNN.
“As soon as we reach a point where the supply starts to look like it can outperform demand, that’s when the vaccine’s message of confidence needs to take action,” said the official, adding that “we are close” to the right moment.
“The most complicated part of this effort since the first day was the time it took to send messages with the vaccine delivery, and that magic moment is fast approaching,” said the official.
Changes of heart
“We know that behind the first vaccine acceptors we are seeing now, there is a group that is hesitant and reluctant,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in vaccines.
To prevent the virus from spreading, about 80% of Americans need to be vaccinated, said Schaffner.
“I am very concerned about these (poll) numbers,” said Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“I hope the best for this campaign. I hope it will be wonderfully effective in reaching people,” he added. “They need to wear suits, which go to our head, but they also need to reach people’s hearts, because it is the heart that causes behavior to change.”
A lackluster Hollywood campaign
The “vast majority” of the campaign’s $ 250 million budget will be used to buy advertising on television, radio, billboards and print and digital media, the government official said.
Robert Ehrlich, a former pharmaceutical company executive, said the budget was on par with known prescription drug advertising campaigns.
“It is a great campaign; $ 250 million can buy a lot of media, ”said Ehrlich, who now advises pharmaceutical companies and is not involved in the government’s campaign.
HHS began launching ads in December as part of a “Slow the Spread” campaign to encourage Americans to wear masks, practice social detachment, avoid crowds and get the vaccine, said the marketing executive.
For the vaccine campaign part, after extensive research and working with focus groups, advertising executives decided to focus on a specific message to encourage people to get vaccinated for others.
“It really embraces this powerful idea that we hear from some people who want to do this for others. They are not getting it for me, to help me live longer, but because I want to protect my family, I want to protect my community, I want to protect my culture” said the executive.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, will be used in the campaign, and other government doctors may be involved later.
“We are already thinking about how we can involve Dr. Walensky and Dr. Nunez-Smith and … Corbett from NIH. We have so many people who are so interested in her,” said the executive.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky is the director of the CDC and Kizzmekia Corbett is a researcher at the National Institutes of Health who helped develop vaccines against Covid-19.
The campaign may, at some point, also include testimonials from people who hesitated to get the vaccine, but decided to take it, added the executive.
At this point, the campaign will not include any known figures other than Gates and the unidentified podcast host.
“We are not reaching out to celebrities,” said government official Biden.
The marketing executive close to the HHS campaign said that while celebrities can be used more widely at some point, this is now not the right approach.
“There are other, more effective ways to try to provide people with the information they need so they can make an informed choice,” said the marketing executive. “In our research, we rarely hear people say, ‘I’m going to get the vaccine if this or that celebrity gets it.’ “
In formulating the campaign’s content, marketing experts decided to target those who are “hesitant about the vaccine” – not the relatively small group of Americans who are adamantly anti-vaccine, said the marketing executive and the government official.
“We are focusing on the people who are questioning the vaccine,” said the official. “There is a limit to what advertising can do.”
CNN’s Samira Said contributed to this story.