Both Pfizer and Moderna have FDA emergency authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines, however, the rollout has been slow and vaccine acceptance even among health care professionals is lower than expected. There has been a number of studies to determine why this is the case. Accurate and impactful information can help increase vaccine uptake while allowing elected officials to build life-long relationships with their constituents.
The toolkit shares best practices of merging social media outreach with targeted SMS messaging using iConstituent’s GovText, an outreach tool that allows elected officials to select constituents by geographic location, demographic, or other criteria for pin-point messaging. Elected officials can engage their constituents in one-on-one communication while utilizing the power of AI scripting that responds to frequently asked questions and enhances staff productivity.
SMS and online engagement work well together because, with a 93% read rate SMS ensures that critical information gets to the people that need it the most. Constituents can be directed to useful resources, such as vaccination centers, distribution sign up websites, or general information. In addition, it can be used for questions and answers during telephone town halls or press briefings to ensure that questions are addressed without disrupting the flow of the meeting.
The toolkit provides a few templates for messaging at various stages in the vaccine rollout. You are free to use these templates for your messaging or make your own. There are resource examples available from iConstituent, the CDC, and many state and local public health sites. iConstituent provides the latest tools to help your office connect with constituents and ensure that we are able to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible.
by Samuel Santeliz