WASHINGTON — The White House is planning to launch a major paid media campaign aimed at convincing reluctant Americans — notably Black and Latino Americans — to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
President Joe Biden’s aides are working closely with Debra Fraser-Howze, the founder of the nonprofit group Choose Healthy Life, and the Black Coalition Against COVID-19, which includes academic, civil rights and faith-based organizations, to develop ads and other messaging geared toward specific segments of Americans who are getting vaccinated at lower rates, including those in the Black, Latino and Hasidic Jewish communities.
The move represents a shift in focus for the Biden administration’s ongoing public education campaign from basic coronavirus prevention measures to combating vaccine skepticism in underserved populations as they seek to reach their goal of making vaccines accessible to all Americans by May 1.
