New PSAs from the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative speak to rural Texans still hesitant about vaccination
Rural Texans are playing a prominent role in a new national PSA campaign developed by the Ad Council in partnership with COVID Collaborative. The new PSAs, airing across Texas now, showcase the firsthand impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines for seven individuals and families, encouraging Texans who may still be questioning the vaccines to seek the latest accurate information about getting vaccinated.
In September 2021, incidence rates of COVID-19 in rural America were roughly 54% higher than elsewhere in the country according to the Rural Policy Research Institute. As this disparity and rates of vaccine hesitancy continue, the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative turned to trusted rural voices and partners to help overcome vaccine hesitancy in rural Texas and across the U.S.
Pharmacist Nathan Buerkle and his wife Mary Jane, owners of The Drug Store in Haskell, Texas, speak about the impact of COVID-19 on their community and the importance of seeking out accurate information from trusted experts about the vaccine. “It was important to study the science and learn about the vaccine. We have that responsibility to our community,” Mary Jane Buerkle said. View the PSA with the Buerkle family: <https://bit. ly/TXBuerklePSA>.
Rancher Brooks Hodges of Guthrie, Texas, a father of two, shares the heartbreaking story of losing his wife, Amanda, to COVID-19 and why he chose to get vaccinated. “There’s been way too many losses. We can argue whether the vaccine got here quick enough or didn’t. I do know it’s my duty to get vaccinated,” said Hodges. View Hodges family PSA: <https:// bit.ly/TXHodgesPSA>.
“There’s a disproportionate impact of the pandemic in rural areas in Texas. Lifting up these real voices is a powerful way to connect with rural communities. By sharing personal experiences and a uniquely rural perspective, we hope more Texans will understand the importance, safety, and effectiveness of vaccines in saving lives, livelihoods, and families,” said Rekha Lakshmanan, M.H.A., Director of Advocacy and Policy for The Immunization Partnership. “Rural Texans place tremendous importance on their faith, their families, and their local communities. It's important to hear these stories from real Texans. The faith community can and should play a prominent role in these frank discussions, helping their congregants and members seek out trusted sources for information about the COVID-19 vaccines,” said Bishop Erik K. J. Gronberg, Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana (NT-NL) Synod, one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Research from the Rural Policy Research Institute showed that rural counties had higher rates of COVID-19 than their urban counterparts in 39 states this September. However, large groups among the rural population who remain undecided about vaccination continue to have concerns about long-term side effects of the vaccines (73.7%) and doubts about the efficacy of vaccination (69.6%) due to new breakthrough cases, according to recent Ad Council research.
Recent CDC data reveals that 35% of rural Americans are unvaccinated, which is a vaccination rate 10 percentage points lower than their urban and suburban counterparts.
In addition to the Haskell and Guthrie Texas families, the new PSAs highlight personal experiences in other rural communities, including a football coach in North Carolina, newlyweds in Mississippi, family farmers in Kansas and Georgia, and a self-proclaimed “sports mom” in Georgia.
“As the pandemic continues to have an outsized impact in rural areas, our vaccination education campaign will redouble its efforts to reach the tens of millions of Americans in these communities who want answers to their good questions about whether to get vaccinated against COVID-19,” said John Bridgeland, Co-Founder, and CEO of the COVID Collaborative. “A nationwide response must reach every part of the country, and we're eager to help more Americans protect themselves and their communities.”
In collaboration with the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, the National Association of Community Health Centers, and the Cooperative Extension System, the PSAs will be distributed nationally with a specific focus on rural areas in the South and Midwest.
The full series of seven stories can be viewed on YouTube: <https://bit.ly/TXCOVIDCollaborativePSA>.
Major media partners and industry trade associations, including Facebook, FOX, Google/ YouTube, National Association of Broadcasters, Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Radio Advertising Bureau, Television Bureau of Advertising among others have committed to providing significant donated media time and space to run and amplify the new PSA assets. What If Media Group will also continue to provide support by sending vaccine messaging via email to unvaccinated people living in rural communities. Per the Ad Council's model, the TV and digital creative will be distributed in the United States where it will run in donated media.
For more information and answers to top questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, visit <GetVaccineAnswers.org> or <DeTiDepende.org>.