Multiphase Campaign Seeks to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations Among Adolescents
// By Brian Griffin //
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio is leading the way in vaccinating children against COVID-19 with a multichannel campaign targeted at parents, physicians, and even adolescents themselves. The move comes after the Food & Drug Administration granted emergency approval to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds. The campaign is taking on even more importance as the Delta variant sweeps across the nation.
With the highly contagious Delta variant threatening to cause a new wave of COVID-19 infections in the U.S., Nationwide Children’s Hospital is emerging as a leading pediatric hospital working to vaccinate children against the virus.
Katie Rausch, senior manager for consumer marketing, Nationwide Children’s
The Columbus, Ohio-based hospital launched a major, multiphase campaign when the Food & Drug Administration granted emergency approval authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for children 12 to 15. Infectious disease experts view the move as crucial to protecting adolescents and controlling the pandemic as the variant spreads rapidly across the country among the unvaccinated.
Nationally, this group represents 17 million people, or about 5 percent of the overall population. So far, the CDC reports just 25 percent are fully vaccinated — the lowest number for any age group. Research shows providers face significant obstacles in dramatically increasing that percentage. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that only 29 percent of parents of children under age 18 plan to get their child vaccinated “right away.”
Nationwide Children’s marketing and public relations team is aggressively addressing the challenges through a multiphase campaign targeted at parents, physicians, adolescents, and its own employees. Katie Rausch, senior manager for consumer marketing, says, “This is such a critically important issue that we are approaching it from multiple angles, employing customized communications for each group.”