In March, the White House also orchestrated a live Instagram chat between Dr. Fauci and Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor with over 16.6 million Instagram followers who openly doubted the vaccines. During their 37-minute discussion, Mr. Derbez was open about his concerns.
“What if I get the vaccine but it doesn’t protect me from the new variant?” He asked. Dr. Fauci acknowledged that the vaccines may not fully protect people from variants, but said, “It is very, very good to protect you from serious illness.”
Understand the state of vaccine mandates in the United States
Flaherty said the whole point of the campaign is to be “a positive information effort.”
State and local governments have taken the same approach, but to a lesser extent and sometimes with financial incentives.
In February, Colorado awarded a contract worth up to $ 16.4 million.
Jessica Bralish, communications director for the Colorado Health Department, said influencers are paid because “too often, different communities are asked to contact their communities for free. And to be fair, we know that we have to compensate people for their work. “
As part of the effort, influencers have shown where they were injected on their arms and used emojis and selfies to show off performance. “I’ve joined the Pfizer Club,” announced Ashley Cummins, a fashion and style influencer in Boulder, Colorado, in a recent smiling selfie while holding her vaccination card. She added a mask emoji and an applause emoji.
“Wuh! That’s so exciting! “Commented one fan.
Contributions from creators of the campaign will include a disclosure that says “Paid Partnership with Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment “.
