Partnering with Mayors to Raise Vaccine Confidence: A Trusted Messenger Strategy

Background: I will participate in a panel discussion about the Move with the Mayor™ Vaccination Initiative and my role as a mayor who participated in it.

Program background: Described in Session Summary

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.