COVID: With 71% Of San Franciscans Fully Vaccinated, SFDPH Launches Campaign To Reach Holdouts
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – Although San Francisco continues to have one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates across the U.S., the city's Department of Public Health is hoping a new multimedia campaign will reach those who still haven't been vaccinated.
The latest vaccine confidence campaign aims to build on the city's current outreach efforts that focus on the communities and neighborhoods that have been hit the hardest by the virus.
Efforts already underway include providing incentives for vaccinations; making doctors available to answer vaccine-related questions; and partnering with community organizations.
For the new campaign, the city has partnered with creative agency Socialisssima to create a series of images showing the differences between mild side effects from the vaccine and serious illness from COVID-19 and animated videos showing how the vaccine works. The videos and images will be made in several different languages.
The images will be placed on billboards in the city's southeast neighborhoods, some of the areas most affected by COVID-19, as well as buses and bus stops, city officials said.
"It's imperative that we listen to community concerns, and we're able to respond quickly in this dynamic environment," SFDPH Director Dr. Grant Colfax said in a statement. "Working closely with community partners, this campaign is creative and aligns with our equity-driven, hyper-local strategy. We remain committed to prioritizing those populations most impacted by COVID-19, meeting people where they are, and ensuring their questions are answered."
So far, 71 percent of San Franciscans have been fully vaccinated.
Over the last several weeks, COVID-19 cases have continued to climb both locally and nationwide due to the contagious delta variant. Health officials are continuing to urge residents to get vaccinated, citing studies that show the risk of severe complications and hospitalizations from COVID-19 in vaccinated individuals is low.
"Vaccines are safe, effective and the surest way out of this pandemic," Colfax said.
More information about the new campaign and how to get vaccinated can be found at www.sf.gov/vaxsf.
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