COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: Ratchet up the marketing!

The first thing Steve and I did after getting our second Pfizer shot on May 5 was to buy tickets to a Q-C Bandits game. Here I am, on Thursday, masked up as full vaccination isn't until May 19.

    The governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, has the right idea: Earlier this week, DeWine announced financial incentives to those who still have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine. Residents of Ohio can win up to $1 million after they start the vaccination process.

    Ideas like this are most necessary to reach those who are hesitant about actually getting the shots.

    Life is getting somewhat easier. Fully-vaccinated individuals now may resume activities they did before the pandemic, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, Atlanta. Fully-vaccinated means individuals have received one of the three recommended vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson) and waited 14 days.

    That will be May 19 for us.

    In the Quad-Cities last weekend, the Quad-Cities River Bandits teamed up with the Scott County Health Department in a "pop-up" clinic at Modern Woodmen Park in downtown Davenport. Each person getting the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine received a ticket to a baseball game.

    The idea came from Ken Croken, a former marketing executive at Genesis Health System. The clinic attracted some 120 people, according to Craig Cooper, Genesis media coordinator. 

    Just three people came to previous "pop-up" clinics offered.

    Vaccine hesitancy is frustrating but understandable. Some folks suffer side effects from shots, for example. In the latest round of COVID-19 vaccines husband Steve (who has side effects from almost any shot) was out of commission for about 12 hours. He's 70 years old and soldiered through the process.

   It's understandable that young athletes, in the middle of a sports season, might want to avoid a vaccine just now.

    Still, states need to be inventive as this vaccine process continues. In Iowa, it was just announced that state revenue collection grew by $375 million in April, a 75% increase over April 2019. The Iowa Department of Management reported $1.1 billion in taxes was paid in April, the largest in a single month.

    One would think a marketing genius could be located and that person could come up with various methods to incentivize those who need a vaccine.  Iowa might even spend some cash to sweeten the deal.

    For example, maybe NBA players talking up vaccines to teens? Several Iowa State basketball alums now play in the NBA and may be amendable to such messaging. What about folks in the NFL? Well-known University of Iowa athletes might help out.

    Adults who like to travel might get vaccinated if they know the country they travel to requires this.

    You get the idea. The goal of herd immunity is necessary in the next few month so we won't ever again have to experience this pandemic again.

    It's so important we reach more individuals in the United States. A smart, well-financed marketing campaign is the way to attract more interest to this vital shot-in-the-arm.