CAMPAIGNING FOR IMMUNIZATION:
BUSTING MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS TO INCREASE INFORMED UPTAKE OF THE COVID-19 VACCINE.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has sent shock waves worldwide since it was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019. In Ethiopia, the first case of Covid-19 was recorded on March 13, 2020. Now, more than two years later, the pandemic has infected more than 490,000 people and was the cause of death for more than 7,500 people in Ethiopia. Despite a slowdown in the number of new cases and recorded deaths, Covid-19 is still a threat in the country.
The best way to halt the spread of the pandemic is to vaccinate as many people as possible. The Ethiopian Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Lia Tadesse, received the first batch of 2.2 million doses of the Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine on March 7, 2021. Since then, over 52 million doses have been administered nationwide.
To support the Federal Ministry of Health’s efforts to tackle vaccine hesitancy and to increase informed vaccine uptake amongst population groups aged 12 and above, USAID has awarded a grant to PSI Ethiopia’s MULU Key Population (MULU KP) project. So far, the MULU KP project and PSI Ethiopia’s Communication and Knowledge Management team have supported the Federal Ministry of Health on the third round Covid-19 Vaccination campaign by producing two Television and one radio advertisement. In addition, the team has also trained more than 100 community mobilizers and health professionals on Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC).
As of August 2022, PSI Ethiopia is gearing up to conduct consumer segmentation research to inform the design of the key messages of the Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Campaign. In the meantime, the MULU KP and Communication and Knowledge Management team has designed a campaign to demystify myths and misconceptions about the Covid-19 Vaccine to encourage vaccine uptake.
This campaign was designed in partnership with Berry Advertising, one of the leading creative agencies in Ethiopia, and is dubbed “አሉ አሉ!” which roughly translates to “they said,” which is a common slang used to express “here say or unverified information.” We came up with this creative tagline because most misconceptions and myths are spread hearsay and by informally sharing unverified information.
The messaging of the campaign is designed to communicate the confusion that here say creates and the importance of seeking verified information from health professionals before believing anything that a specific person might hear about the Covid-19 vaccine.
Using this messaging, we have created four Television and one radio advertisement targeting different population segments. For instance, the first TV Ad involves elderly women and a priest at a coffee ceremony talking about the confusing information they have heard about the covid-19 vaccine and that it is un-Godly and anti-religion. The priest then busts the myths and informs the elderly women about the importance of the vaccine for elderly people and that he has also been vaccinated. Finally, the Ad ends with a voice-over stating that people should not be confused by seeking verified information from health professionals and getting vaccinated at their nearest health center. The rest of the advertisements contain similar messages with different contexts, settings, common myths, and misconceptions.
The campaign will initially be launched nationwide in Amharic and several regional languages like Afan Oromo. This campaign will last for three months, and the key messages and contents will be revised based on the findings of the audience segmentation research.
PSI Ethiopia will continue supporting the Federal Ministry of Health and other partners to increase informed vaccine uptake. The Federal Ministry of Health is launching the fourth round of the Covid-19 Vaccination campaign. PSI Ethiopia will continue to support the ministry and other partners on demand creation and last-mile vaccine delivery.
