By Sheila Dang
(Reuters) - Nonprofit group the Ad Council and public health coalition COVID Collaborative launched an education campaign on Tuesday for doctors and nurses to boost public confidence in the new coronavirus vaccines as they roll out across the United States.
The campaign, to give healthcare providers information to share with patients who may be skeptical of the vaccine, is a first step in the council's push to create national public service announcements encouraging COVID vaccinations.
A video series produced in collaboration with at least 12 medical associations, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addresses topics such as safety, availability and administration of the vaccine.
"I'm urging healthcare professionals to please get vaccinated," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the beginning of each video. "It's equally important as healthcare providers to show confidence in the vaccines so that other people will follow suit and get vaccinated."
The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative will begin launching vaccine public service announcements to the general public in January across television, websites and social media.
Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Inc's coronavirus vaccine became the second to receive U.S. authorization this month after Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and its German partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX). The vaccines are being distributed to healthcare workers, with older people in long-term care facilities next in line.
In a Reuters poll released this month, 61% of Americans said they would be interested in taking the COVID-19 vaccine, down 4 points from May. A vaccination rate of about 75% is needed to achieve herd immunity, health experts have said.
