‘We Can Do This Alabama’: Campaign takes new approach to vaccinations

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A new campaign is kicking off to convince more people to get the COVID-19 Vaccine.

The effort, called “We Can Do This Alabama”, is a partnership between the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Alabama Hospital Association, and the Medical Association of Alabama. It’s asking for more people to promote getting the vaccine on a personal level.

“Rather than trying to encourage people at large to get vaccinated, what we’re focusing on here is trying to address individual concerns than into individual people have,” explained Dr. Don Williamson, President of the Alabama Hospital Association. “So the idea here is not that we’re going to suddenly, you know, in 24 hours get thousands of people to be vaccinated. Rather it’s about trying to reach individuals who have legitimate questions and pair them with somebody that they trust, who can provide them meaningful answers, to try to get those people who have not yet been vaccinated, who are willing to be vaccinated, trying to get them vaccinated. "

Alabama’s current vaccination rate is now the lowest in the nation and a recent survey of Alabama’s hospitals found 94 percent of all COVID-19 positive patients at the time were unvaccinated. The “We Can Do This Alabama” campaign recruits what it calls “vaccine champions”, people in local communities who will reach out to their unvaccinated friends, family, etc.

“It’s to reach those individuals who have who have concerns and questions. And the best way to do that you can’t really ask answer tons of questions on a PSA. So you really need that one on one personal interaction, to try to answer those questions and it needs to be from somebody that you trust,” said Williamson.

This campaign wants to make sure those “vaccine champions” are armed with the right information, so it set up a website with a long list of resources to help spread the right information.

There’s even a TikTok contest, offering cash prizes.