WO R C E S T E R M E D I C I N E
Beyond the Virus: How the Pandemic has Impacted Children
Empowering Worcester Youth to Support COVID-19 Vaccination: #PostVaxLife, A Public Health Media Campaign Stephenie C. Lemon, PhD Matilde “Mattie” Castiel, MD
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accinating youth and families in Worcester for
COVID-19 is a vital part of the public health response to the pandemic. According to the City of Worcester Division of Public Health surveillance using new census population totals (1), 33% of children 5-11 years, 62% of youth 12-15 years, and 53% of youth 16-19 years are fully vaccinated with two doses. Rates for boosters, which are now available to everyone aged 5 and up, remain sub-optimal. Since the COVID-19 vaccines were approved, Worcester’s Office of Health and Human Services and the Division of Public Health have worked tirelessly to provide access to the vaccines through Vaccine Equity Clinics held in trusted and accessible community locations, such as the Worcester Public Library, community agencies, places of worship, and stores. The UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center (PRC), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at UMass Chan Medical School, has partnered to support these Vaccine Equity Clinics through a public health media campaign promoting COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake among youth and families.
fidence in the city of Worcester. This hashtag, #PostVaxLife, was meaningful to the youth, highlighting their desire to get back to the things that they enjoy doing again. There were different reasons why youth decided to get vaccinated. Isabella, one youth ambassador said, “I got vaccinated to protect my friends and family. After getting vaccinated I was able to enjoy my life better and feel safer.” In the campaign materials, youth ambassador Jean shared, “I’m vaccinated for my mom, for my dad, for my grandmother...for myself. I love them, so I want to protect them. Protect yours.” When asked why they got vaccinated, another one of our local youth vaccine ambassadors, Morgan, said, “I got the vaccine because my mom and little brother suffer from autoimmune diseases. I wanted to keep me and my family healthy, so far, we have been. #PostVaxLife.” This public health campaign highlights Worcester’s goal to increase youth vaccinations by using youth as trusted messen-
Worcester Youth Vaccine Ambassadors and the #PostVaxLife Public Health Media Campaign The Worcester Youth Vaccine Ambassador public health media campaign is a local initiative to promote vaccine confidence among youth and families. The campaign is guided by social cognitive theory (2) and youth empowerment (3) theories that suggest that people are influenced to change their health behavior by hearing stories and motivations of people who are influential to them. #PostVaxLife promotes vaccination through youth and families sharing personal motivations, with an emphasis on addressing racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccinations through diverse voices. UMass Worcester PRC and Worcester’s Office of Health and Human Services facilitated the campaign, but it was led by, and for, youth. The Youth Vaccine Ambassadors were influential youth living in Worcester. The goal was to amplify the voices of our talented youth by giving them a platform to share why they got vaccinated. These motivations formed the foundation of the vaccination promotion media campaign to encourage and inspire others to get vaccinated. Together, these youth created the #PostVaxLife hashtag and logo and used them to share vaccine information on social media as a way to build vaccine con-
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OCTOBER 2022
“ . . . people are influenced to change their health behavior by hearing stories and motivations of people who are influential to them.
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