TORONTO -- A coalition of COVID-19 task forces and doctors serving racialized and ethnic communities across Canada have banded together to launch the ‘This is our Shot’ campaign, aiming to battle vaccine hesitancy and encourage Canadians to get inoculated.
The organizations behind the movement, which include the South Asian COVID Task Force, Siksika Health Services, The Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force and the Black Health Initiative, created the campaign out of a desire to make sure public health messaging was getting through to underserved communities.
“We had this perspective of using our community connections, our knowledge of our cultures to help get the prevailing public health messaging out, both through traditional media, cultural ethnic mediums and through digital mediums that we know that our communities partake in,†said campaigner and trauma and emergency physician at Hamilton Health Sciences Dr. Dashminder Singh Sehdev in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. “For example, the use of WhatsApp as the information medium is prevalent amongst South Asians.â€
Those who wish to join the campaign can purchase a shirt online, with all proceeds going to the Kids Help Phone charity, then wear the shirt while getting vaccinated and post a photo on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram, with the hashtag #ThisIsOurShotCA.
Sehdev said the campaign centres around “fears that need to be addressed†and respectfully acknowledging that people “have questions about vaccines.â€
“As Canadians, we have to be respectful of other people's concerns, that's who we are - we don't we don't ignore people when they're worried about something,†he said. “So it made sense intrinsically to launch with something where people can get questions answered.â€
In order to address the questions Canadians may have about COVID-19 vaccines, the campaign has information available on its website in more than 25 languages, and has organized a virtual town hall to go live April 28 with a panel of doctors moderated by Olympian Clara Hughes.
Sehdev said the campaign is aimed at people in racialized communities who are front-line workers and cannot work from home, people who are “critical to the infrastructure of the broader community.â€
“When people are able to work from home, they're able to work from home because these people are not working from home – there’s no paid sick leave. They're not incentivized to stay home if they're sick, even though they do recognize it's in their interest overall to do so,†Sehdev explained. “They're just not financially able to make it happen, and with common questions around vaccine hesitancy, having the scientific and medical leadership in our ethnic groups acknowledge that vaccination is our best way out of this - that's how we formed the ‘This is our shot’ campaign.â€
The campaign including actor Ryan Reynolds, musician Bif Naked, astronaut Dr. Roberta Bondar and Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser.
“We're super excited that that people have been so behind this, because as a front-line health-care worker…it's been exhausting, our system is as close as it's ever been to the breaking point,†Sehdev said. “So personally, it's been such a huge morale booster to see prominent Canadians step in and say, ‘hey guys, this is how we can help out.’â€
Campaign ambassador and Olympian Clara Hughes said on Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel Wednesday that she become involved with “This is our Shot†a month ago because of teammate Wickenheiser.
“It’s so important to bring some positivity, to share information from doctors in all languages in communities across Canada, so we can have the information we need and share our vaccine stories,†Hughes said.
“It means so much to me to encourage fellow Canadians to do something - to feel like I can do something to help,†she continued, sharing that she got very “emotional†when it came time to get her own vaccine.
“Going up the escalator and being greeted by all these amazing people saying ‘welcome this is your day’… there was this palpable sense of excitement and relief – it means protecting myself, my spouse and my family,†she said.
Hughes said that she, like many Canadians, has “felt helpless,†and joining the campaign is “something we can do to help, we all get to share our vaccine stories and encourage each other.â€
Sehdev agrees. “This is what I love about being Canadian,†he said. “I love people coming together over a common cause. I love people recognizing that each one of us has a role to play in getting through this.â€
“It's not just about paramedics and doctors and nurses - yeah, we have a specific role,†Sehdev said. “But you know what? My neighbour across the street has a specific role when they talk to their friends about the town hall so they can submit their questions, getting them answered and then maybe saying ‘you know what? I think I'm ready to do this - I want to do this.’â€
The “This is our Shot" town hall will go live online Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT. It can be accessed .
