Yale New Haven Health joins nationwide campaign with other leading US hospitals to promote COVID-19 vaccination

New Haven, CT (April 20, 2021) – Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS) is collaborating with a coalition of 60 of America's top hospitals and health care institutions on a nationwide campaign to encourage adults to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The campaign “Get the Vaccine to Save Lives,” is designed to reassure the public that vaccines are safe, effective and necessary to achieve herd immunity and a return to normal activities.

“Yale New Haven Health is proud to join a consortium of world class medical facilities to encourage everyone in our nation to get vaccinated,” said Marna P. Borgstrom, CEO, Yale New Haven Health. “The COVID vaccine program has been researched, tested and validated and proven to be extremely safe. As nationally recognized health systems, we hope that by all coming together, we can allay fears and encourage more people to get vaccinated and stop the spread of this insidious pandemic.”

The campaign hopes to reach adults who are hesitant to receive a vaccine, including racial and minority ethnic groups and people living in rural communities. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey published March 30, 17 percent of the public say they will take a wait-and-see approach before getting it themselves, and another 20 percent say they will never get a vaccine or will only get it if required to do so for work, school or other activities. This leaves a significant portion of the population at risk of going unvaccinated.

The nationwide campaign includes print and digital advertising, media outreach, social media, an awareness video and an informational website.

With vaccine distribution underway, the campaign aims to help Americans feel safe and confident about receiving a vaccine. To achieve herd immunity and help end the pandemic, leading health officials say approximately 80 percent of the population needs to receive a vaccine. Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected – not just those who have been vaccinated.

More than 195 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 48 percent of the population age 18 and over has received at least one vaccine dose in the U.S. through April 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met the Food and Drug Administration’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization.

For more information about the campaign, visit ourshot2savelives.org

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org