[Correspondent Diary] Elvis as Polio Vaccine Ambassador, COVID-19 as BTS?

Growing Concerns Over Early COVID-19 Vaccination in the US
Obstacles to Vaccine Uptake
Increasing Need for Celebrities and Influencers, Not Politicians, to Promote Vaccination
Elvis Presley’s Polio Vaccine Promotion Shows Perfect Learning Effect
BTS Also Mentioned as Vaccination Promotion Targets
Calls for Cash Incentives Upon Vaccination Emerge

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The United States has secured more COVID-19 vaccines than its population but is still facing a dilemma. This is largely due to significant vaccine hesitancy.

Vice President Mike Pence even publicly received the vaccine live on air, and President-elect Joe Biden is also scheduled to be vaccinated, but voices calling for more fundamental measures are spreading.

Unlike the South Korean government, which did not rush to secure vaccines, the U.S. government funded development and secured various types of vaccines, but if the public continues to avoid vaccination, achieving herd immunity will inevitably be difficult.

According to ABC News and the Ipsos polling agency, only 40% of respondents said they would get the COVID-19 vaccine immediately. A Pew Research Center survey showed that 61% were willing to be vaccinated.

Even though the first vaccine recipient in the U.S. was chosen to be an immigrant Black woman, it is judged that such messaging alone is unlikely to change the situation. Therefore, there is growing support for using celebrities or social media influencers to promote vaccination.

According to the online media Vox, the U.S. government planned to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on COVID-19 vaccine promotional advertisements featuring celebrities such as Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. However, this plan was scrapped due to opposition from the Democratic Party.

Nevertheless, the Department of Health and Human Services is focusing on using famous personalities rather than government officials to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services emphasized in an interview with Vox that statements from celebrities are more effective for the general public than those from public health experts like Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Seri Fargo, a professor at the University of Connecticut’s Health and Social Media Center, also told Vox in an interview, "It is necessary to secure trust in the COVID-19 vaccine even if it means mobilizing celebrities."

Using celebrities to promote vaccines has already proven effective. The "King of Rock and Roll," Elvis Presley, is a prime example. Shortly after his debut, in 1956, he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in New York and received a polio vaccine injection. Ten years later, the number of polio cases in New York City dropped to zero.

CNN also introduced an opinion piece suggesting that TikTok and YouTube stars should be sought out amid changing media environments. The piece identified the K-pop group BTS as celebrities who should be encouraged to livestream their vaccinations.

Social media influencers have already made significant contributions in the war against COVID-19. A representative example is teenage Charlie D'Amelio, who has 100 million followers on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

The U.S. Influencer Council also announced plans to encourage its affiliated influencers to share information about vaccination. The council’s president, who has 400,000 followers, plans to livestream their vaccination.

There are also claims that the most effective way to encourage vaccination is for the government to pay cash incentives to those who get vaccinated.

John Delaney, a former U.S. congressman who ran as a Democratic candidate in the recent presidential election, appeared on CNBC recently and proposed paying $1,500 to each vaccinated individual.

Delaney estimated that a budget of $380 billion would be required to pay $1,500 each. He explained that this is a "two birds with one stone" approach that would not only eradicate COVID-19 early but also stimulate consumption.

Compared to the $900 billion economic stimulus bill currently being negotiated by U.S. Democrats and Republicans, the required budget is not insignificant. This example shows how challenging vaccine uptake is.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.