Broadcasters Join White House for National Call to Action on June 4

At the request of the White House, NAB is asking all stations to participate in kicking off a national month of action on June 4 – a focused push of vaccine education activity in communities across the U.S. to ensure all Americans understand the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine leading up to Independence Day. By July 4, President Joe Biden has set a goal of 160 million fully vaccinated Americans, or 70% of adults 18 and older. NAB is urging all members to include vaccine education in their programming and online beginning on June 4 to urge Americans to get vaccinated.

Stations have complete flexibility to decide what this looks like for their market. Examples include:

• Hosting medical professionals on air to answer listener/viewer questions;
• Using online platforms, such as websites and social media, to share information about vaccines using the hashtags #WeCanDoThis and #WeAreBroadcasters;
• Hosting live phone banks to answer listener and viewer questions;
• Hosting a mobile vaccine event at the station or in the community; or
• Inoculating a station or community personality live on the air; etc.

Vaccine education programming on the national day of action can utilize station branding, as well as "We Can Do This" branding tools provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NAB's Vaccine Toolkit has also recently added a list of vaccine hesitant communities provided to us by the White House and the Ad Council. You can access that list here. In addition, the administration has provided an overview of the national month of action, as well as social media tools and a list of frequently asked questions that they are hearing nationwide, as well as media-trained physicians who are available for interviews. A list of national medical experts are available on the vaccine toolkit, along with the option of requesting a local voice, should you need that.

We know that many of your stations are routinely providing vaccine education — this is simply a matter of coordinating activities that are already happening to kick off on June 4 and promoting the National Month of Action.

The critical role local radio and television broadcasters have played in keeping their communities informed about COVID-19 and sharing factual information about vaccine deployment in their communities is unparalleled. Your participation in this important national initiative will further demonstrate the enormous impact and effectiveness of local broadcasting.