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A task force promoting COVID vaccinations is now reaching for a younger audience

Several people stand outside.
Tom Flanigan
/
WFSU Public Media
The community event promoted vaccinations through music, giveaways, and lots of informational resources.

With children as young as five now cleared to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, there was a youth-oriented event promoting vaccination in Tallahassee, Saturday, Nov. 13. The Community Fun Day event at the Bethel Family Life Center on Bronough Street had a distinctly youthful feel with a live DJ, giveaways, and other fun offerings.

City/County Vaccination Education Task Force member Elaine Bryant said that appeal was purely intentional.

"Having this Community Day attached to vaccination and to youth, because our focus this time has really been on youth, millennials and gen-Xers."

Mainly, added Bryant, because younger people seem more persuadable than many older folks. And the campaign is also trying to use a new generation of communication tools.

"We have maximized social media in this outreach this time, because that's, unfortunately, where people are being educated erroneously."

Bryant added the task force will be ramping up this effort, mainly in the county's majority-minority neighborhoods.

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Tom Flanigan has been with WFSU News since 2006, focusing on covering local personalities, issues, and organizations. He began his broadcast career more than 30 years before that and covered news for several radio stations in Florida, Texas, and his home state of Maryland.

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