Trusted Messenger Strategy to Raise Vaccine Confidence

Background: I will participate in a panel discussion about the Move with the Mayor™ Vaccination Initiative and my role as an advisor on strategy and tactics and providing CDC oversight of the project.

Program background: The Move with the Mayor™ Vaccination Initiative demonstrated it is possible to engage Republican, Democratic, and independent mayors to deliver public health messages. More than 80 mayors recorded video messages urging adults to get vaccinated. The National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, and several partners used paid promotion of the messages in social media and movie theaters to reach members of each mayor's community.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Tracked numbers of mayors participating, their locations, community types, and populations; tracked video and social media messages produced; tracked impressions and engagements with videos and social media messages; collected anecdotal data from participating mayors.

Conclusions: 89 Republican, Democratic, and independent mayors in 32 states recorded and disseminated scientifically accurate messages urging adults to get vaccinated. Together, the mayors' messages made 133 million impressions with a 73.2% video engagement rate (vs. YouTube average of 31.2%). Community members told mayors they got vaccinated because of the messaging campaign. This was one of many programs that contributed to >105 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine being administered in the U.S. during the campaign period.

Implications for research and/or practice: The Move with the Mayor™ initiative suggests that mayors can play valuable roles in a long-term, nonpartisan strategy to build community-level public and policymaker support for public health.