AHA Releases Additional COVID-19 Vaccine Resources for Hospitals and Health Systems

To help advance the public’s confidence and trust in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution, the AHA continues to develop and collate resources that hospitals and health systems can use as COVID-19 vaccines become available in their communities.

New Ad Council PSA Featuring Dr. Melinda Estes
The Ad Council Dec. 29 launched its AHA-supported COVID-19 Vaccine Education Effort, a multichannel campaign with four videos, several of which feature AHA Board Chair Melinda Estes, M.D. In addition to the Ad Council-developed videos, hospitals and health systems have access to a host of downloadable materials, including:

• simplified COVID-19 vaccination FAQs;
• talking points on the overall effort for health care professionals and spokespeople;
• copy for e-communications/internal communications/websites;
• customizable social media copy; and
• shorter versions of the videos for use on social media.

View the videos here.

Resources for Engaging Health Care Workforce and Communities
The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development members developed a new communications toolkit to guide hospitals and health systems through the steps involved in planning, designing and executing a vaccine communications plan and campaign. Information highlights the strategies and experiences of health care marketing and communications professionals, such as developing a vision and goals; identifying the audiences, such as internal, external and non-English speaking groups; developing effective messaging; determining the best ways to reach target audiences; and tracking success metrics.

The resource emerged from the December 2020 SHSMD Vaccine Distribution and Communications: A SHSMD Member Collaborative Workshop. The toolkit will be updated as new resources, tools and examples become available.

#MyWhy
To reach communities digitally, AHA launched #MyWhy, a social media campaign that amplifies health care workers’ voices on the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Using the hashtag #MyWhy and tagging @AHAhospitals, physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and others are encouraged to share videos, social posts or written testimonials when it’s their turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The #MyWhy webpage includes free graphics for your hospital to use to promote the campaign.

AHA Vaccine Website
Among new materials is a dynamic AHA website, developed in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and featuring:

• a vaccine candidate scorecard;
• a vaccine primer;
• CDC’s communications and distribution resources, including posters, FAQs and digital content; and
• an allocation framework.

AHA will update the site with new videos and other content as it is developed.

Find out more about CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices COVID-19 vaccine recommendations here.

AHA Vaccine Special Bulletins
AHA recently released summaries of Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations for the two approved vaccines: Pfizer’s BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine.

As other vaccines are approved, AHA will release additional summaries to provide hospitals with information on dosing, storage and handling, preparation, and contraindications and adverse reactions.

What You Can Do

• Share this advisory with your senior management, legal team and community resource team.
• Identify legal and other resources available locally for patients and families.
• Identify community stakeholders who would benefit from having some or all of this information.

Further Questions
Please contact AHA at 800-424-4301.