As the number of COVID cases spike across the country due to the Delta variant, the push to get young people vaccinated is growing stronger. On Wednesday, pop star Olivia Rodrigo met with President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci at the White House to discuss the importance of getting young people vaccinated against the coronavirus.
With nearly 15 million followers on Instagram, Olivia Rodrigo has a great deal of influence over many people young and not so young.
Professor of Journalism at Calvin University Jesse Holcomb says this move by the White House is smart, and says his research shows that the messenger really matters. Professor Holcomb explains that the credibility of the source really matters when it comes to building trust in the information being shared. And the data shows that well-known, trusted influencers and celebrities are in some ways much better ambassadors for factual information.
"A lot of people -- even though I hate to say it, don't always trust the politicians and don't necessarily trust the person in the White House," Holcomb says. "And also frankly, they don't always trust the media itself even if the message is accurate and important and timely, so having these kinds of surrogates, these influencers deliver that kind of message is especially effective."
In West Michigan, Kent County Health Department epidemiologist Brian Hartl says they are working with community groups to figure out the effective ways to reach young populations across the county. He recognizes the power of social media and influencers like Olivia Rodrigo, and says the health department is looking to connect with local influencers to create social media content about the vaccine on platforms where young people are -- including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
"We know that vaccination rates in the young population is lower -- people think that they're immune to it or don't need it, " says Hartl. "So, we've talked about 'what do we need to do?' And we've talked locally how can we find local influencers to get the word out? We know that students and younger populations don't listen to Facebook anymore, they don't see the news a lot and they don't read websites. So to hear this, about Olivia Rodrigo helping to spread the word, using her voice for the better and raise awareness about the vaccination is really amazing."
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