What’s the news: The Ad Council, a nonprofit advertising group, and the COVID Collaborative, a coalition of the nation’s experts in health, education and the economy, have created a new resource designed to address physician and other health professional’s questions about COVID-19 vaccination.
The video series, “COVID-19 Vaccine Education Effort: Content for Healthcare Providers,” was developed in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as well as top health and medical institutions.
"I'm urging health care professionals to please get vaccinated," said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, who is featured in an introduction to the video series. "It's critical to protect yourselves and your family—but it's equally important as health care providers to show confidence in the vaccines so that other people will follow suit and get vaccinated.
“Together, we can help a substantial portion of the population decide to get vaccinated and ultimately end the pandemic as we know it in this country," he added.
Each video includes experts from a diverse coalition of leading health organizations and medical institutions share information on COVID-19 vaccine development and safety with their fellow physicians and nurses. The AMA is among the top medical associations and institutions participating in these educational efforts. Other organizations include:
- American Hospital Association.
- American Nurses Association.
- Black Coalition Against COVID.
- Morehouse School of Medicine.
- National Association of Hispanic Nurses.
- National Black Nurses Association.
- National Hispanic Medical Association.
- National Medical Association.
This work builds on the success of the Ad Council’s multipronged communications campaign to help fight COVID-19. It has resulted in $408.9 million in donated media value as well as 58.4 million engagements and 31.2 million visits to Coronavirus.gov.
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Why it’s important: Establishing vaccine confidence is vital to the effort to end the pandemic. This involves collaboration across all of health care. As physicians and other health professionals face the ongoing challenge of navigating allocation and distribution, this series of videos is designed to help answer common questions about COVID-19 vaccination.
"Transparency surrounding COVID-19 vaccines—including the science behind the development and authorization process, safety, efficacy and side effects—will be essential to build trust and ensure people in the U.S., including people in minority communities, are ready and willing to take the vaccine,” said AMA President Susan R. Bailey, MD. “We must continue to make sure physicians have the science-based evidence and information they need to help them promote vaccine confidence among their patients and the general public.”
"Science and ingenuity have given us the tools to vaccinate our population, and if enough of us roll up our sleeves, these vaccines will reduce death and severe illness and help us eventually reclaim normalcy in our communities,” said Dr. Bailey.
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Learn more: Physicians and other health professionals can turn to these educational videos to learn more about safety, availability, cost, side effects, vaccine administration, answering patients’ questions and more. The four videos are:
- “For Physicians and Nurses: Answers to COVID-19 Vaccination Questions for Health Care Providers.”
- “For Healthcare Providers: Answers to COVID-19 Vaccination Logistics Questions.”
- “For Physicians: Answers to COVID-19 Vaccination Questions for Healthcare Providers.”
- “For Nurses: Answers to COVID-19 Vaccination Questions for Healthcare Providers.”
The video content will be shared with physicians and other health professionals through professional and community networks to further increase understanding and confidence about the efficacy and safety of the new vaccines. Those include:
- American Public Health Association.
- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
- Infectious Diseases Society of America.
- National Association of County and City Health Officials.
- National Medical Fellowships.
- UnidosUS.
The AMA has developed frequently-asked-questions documents on COVID-19 vaccination covering safety, allocation and distribution, administration and more. There are two FAQs, one designed to answer patients’ questions, and another to address physicians’ COVID-19 vaccine questions.
Find out more with the AMA about COVID-19 and vaccine development.
