As states are rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations, 40 percent of Americans still say they would not get the vaccine, according to a survey from Pew Research Center. Juniors Mina Raj, Lucy Roberts and Breland Bach are working to lower that percentage through their organization, Don’t Wait to Vaccinate. 

“Lucy and I’s parents are both doctors, and our parents are conscious about how their communities weren’t necessarily taking the vaccine either,” Raj said. “I know in my mom’s office, at least 30 percent of the nurses aren’t taking the vaccine because they don’t trust it. So we thought, ‘what if we launched a campaign to spread information about the vaccine to convince more people to take it so the pandemic can end earlier?’”

By posting infographics on Instagram and Twitter, distributing flyers and designing a user-friendly website, the group hopes to make information from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more accessible and digestible.

“One of our goals is to make our website and social media an inviting place for people to go and get unbiased information about the vaccine that feels a little bit more comfortable than the CDC website, and more narrowed down to Dallas specifically,” Bach said.

The organization consists of three major branches: research, social media and outreach. The research team, led by Chief Operating Officer Raj, synthesizes information from sources such as The New York Times and governmental websites. The social media team, led by Chief Design and Creative Officer Roberts, creates infographics using information from the research team.

“Often the language of the CDC or The New York Times is a little more complex than what the average person may be able to understand, and they use a lot of fancy terms that might make people feel confused,” Roberts said. “The information that we release is easily digestible information.”

On the other hand, Bach, the chief financial officer, oversees sponsorship and outreach. She works closely with T.R. Hoover child development center and the group plans to hand out flyers at the school. The flyers, written in both English and Spanish, include information such as where to get the vaccine, what transportation to take and how to pay for the trip.

“To reach all the demographics, like with T.R. Hoover, we’ve had to think about handing out flyers,” Bach said. “For how many we want to do, that’s going to be $100, and if we want to keep on doing it, where are we going to get the money? So it’s my job to start out with smaller, more private people willing to give money to help out.”

As their platform grows, Bach plans to reach out to sponsorship companies and Hockaday family-owned companies that would be willing to financially support the organization.

The group also plans to connect with other schools as part of the outreach program and expand their efforts to more platforms, such as TikTok.

“As the organization grows, we’ll have more nuances that might need managing, so we’ll add more people,” Roberts said. “But right now we just want to provide educational opportunities because there is a lot of uncertainty.”

Raj hopes to facilitate conversation among Hockaday students and their families.

“It would be so cool if people showed these to their parents or their friends, and they start talking about the vaccine,” Raj said. “If we can convince

hearts and minds to get the vaccine, that would be so amazing, not just for us personally to see, but for the whole community because it would help mitigate the spread of the virus.”

Website: https://dontwaittovaccinate.com

Twitter: @dontwait2vax

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