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Ad Council readies massive COVID-19 vaccine campaign: 'We're going to need a lot of Elvises to make this work'

The Ad Council is laying the groundwork for a sweeping, national campaign aimed at convincing the American public to get the coronavirus vaccine.

Armed with $50 million, the non-profit group is embarking on its most ambitious effort to date, amid rampant skepticism around the safety and efficacy of the doses that threatens to keep much of the population at bay.

In recent days, a number of high-profile public figures — including Vice President Mike Pence and President-elect Joe Biden — have committed to taking the shot publicly in order to boost confidence in the treatment. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control has laid out a four phase inoculation strategy, to determine who gets access to the vaccine first,

Speaking to Yahoo Finance Live, the Ad Council said the group is aggressively looking to recruit a diverse group of influencers, from celebrities to healthcare professionals and church leaders to build confidence in the vaccination process.

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“We've been in the social good space for a long time and we've worked on a lot of campaigns on covid-19 since the crisis started. But this is literally the largest in our lifetime in terms of size, scale, scope and emergency,” chief campaign development officer Michelle Hillman said.

On Monday, Pfizer (PFE) and German partner BioNTech rolled out the first tranche of the 2.9 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine on Monday, to health care workers and nursing homes, prioritized in the first phase. And Moderna (MRNA), which received emergency-use approval from the FDA for its vaccine late Friday, is expected to follow with its deliveries early next week.

However, with essential workers next in line, the vaccines aren’t expected to reach the general public until the spring, and recent surveys suggest that the third and final phase may prove to be the most challenging.

While a study by the Pew Research Center found 60% of respondents planned to get the covid-19 vaccine, 21% percent of adults said they do not intend to get vaccinated and are “pretty certain” more information will not change their mind.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence receives a COVID-19 vaccine to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine at the White House on December, 18, 2020 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence receives a COVID-19 vaccine to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine at the White House on December, 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

‘Not a one size fits all’

Skepticism of the vaccine is even higher in communities of color. A poll by the COVID Collaborative, NAACP, and UnidosUS showed that only 14% of Black Americans and 34% of Latinx Americans trusted that a vaccine would be safe.

This summer, the Council turned to Academy Award winning actor Viola Davis and Olympic Gold medalist Simone Biles for ads encouraging Americans to wear face masks, targeted towards minority communities, Hillman said.

“This is not a one size fits all campaign,” Hillman said. “I think what we've learned is that the different communities that we reach out, they want to hear from people in their communities...the message is important but the messenger probably saves the day in this.”

The Ad Council is still in the process of raising $50 million from the private sector, Hillman said. Social media platforms like Facebook (FB), Snap (SNAP), and Reddit reportedly plan to donate advertising space.

Lawmakers have taken their own steps to instill confidence in the vaccination process. On Friday, health care workers inoculated Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, as cameras captured every step. Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, have all volunteered to publicly get vaccinated to prove the procedure is safe.

"We're going to need a lot of Elvises to make this work." Michelle Hillman, Ad Council

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that 75% - 85% of the American population will need to be inoculated in order for activity to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The Ad Council is looking to history as a guide, although the fragmented media landscape is likely to complicate this campaign, unlike any other.

Back in 1956, Elvis Presley went on live TV, to get the polio vaccine on The Ed Sullivan Show. Presley’s decision to get the vaccine was seen as a catalyst encouraging teens and young adults to get vaccinated themselves.

“The world's changed a lot since Elvis was, you know, a one and done influencer for everyone across the country. [There was] one media channel as you know,” Hillman said.

“This is going to be one of those campaigns that’s going to be an air game and a ground game. We're going to bring the best influencers from all of those categories to really meet people where they are, understanding that everyone isn't going to respond to someone like Elvis. We're going to need a lot of Elvises to make this work.”

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita