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COVID-19 Vaccine and Your Campus
Staying up to date with vaccination remains the safest strategy for preventing COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and death. These materials are designed to support sustaining vaccine promotion, normalizing COVID-19 vaccine on campus, and increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among students, faculty, and staff.
Current vaccine recommendations
- COVID-19 Vaccine
- CDC: Vaccines for COVID-19
- CDC: Use of COVID-19 Vaccine in the United States Interim Clinical Considerations
Vaccine outreach and education
Resources for vaccine outreach
Vaccine outreach actively promotes the use of COVID-19 vaccine. It also normalizes COVID-19 vaccine by making vaccine information and conversations commonplace—an accepted, routine aspect of your school's social and physical environment.
Outreach material includes posters, social media messages, flyers, infographics, videos, email—simple messages designed to encourage the use and acceptance of vaccine. Choose resources that speak to your target audience and address relevant concerns. Providing culturally relevant information about vaccine can help people understand how to keep their communities safe and healthy over time.
- COVID Campus Coalition
This student-led organization creates accurate, timely social medial content on COVID-19 vaccines for other post-secondary students. Students across the country are invited to join the coalition and receive training on how to create social media messages, infographics, and other outreach material branded for their schools.
- Social Media Graphic Posts for College Students
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services We Can Do This campaign.
- MDH vaccine ambassador videos feature students enrolled at Minnesota colleges and universities sharing their experiences and insights into getting vaccinated against COVID-19:
- COVID-19 Vaccination Information for Native Americans
From the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP).
- COVID-19 Social Media Graphics
From the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).
- Vaccine outreach toolkits for students or staff:
- American College Health Association: Campus COVID-19 Toolkit
This toolkit will help you create a student ambassador program to promote healthy behaviors using positive reinforcement. It includes a student ambassador planning guide as well as social media graphics, signs, and posters. - We Can Do This: College Students Toolkit
This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services toolkit includes social media messages, vaccine FAQs, sample test messages for students in multiple languages, posters, flyers, and more.
- American College Health Association: Campus COVID-19 Toolkit
Resources for vaccine education
Helping people understand the value of COVID-19 vaccines for themselves and their community is one of the best ways to normalize vaccination in your community, increase vaccine uptake, and avoid outbreaks on your campus. Developing this understanding and changing behaviors doesn't happen all at once but takes place over time.
Use the resources below to find information that responds to questions being asked in your community about COVID-19 vaccine. Basic, accurate information about the vaccines can help people who have waited to get vaccinated understand how they're helping themselves and their community by getting a shot.
Keep in mind that many students prefer to receive information rather than be told what to do. Think about how to incentivize people to learn about COVID-19 vaccine.
- About COVID-19 Vaccine
Includes information on who should get vaccinated, basic facts about COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, how to find vaccine locations, and more.
- CDC: Myths and Facts about COVID-19 Vaccines
Offers accurate COVID-19 vaccine information in response to common myths and rumors.
- U.S. Surgeon General: Health Misinformation: Explore Toolkits & Resources
Includes basic tips for responding to questions and misinformation. Tips include listening, empathizing, pointing to credible sources, avoiding public shaming, using inclusive language.
MDH Vaccine 101 Training
Slide deck and training tips available by request to share basic vaccine information in a webinar-setting and can be customized to your community's needs.
Here's what you need to know about the training
One of the most important ways to protect yourself from COVID-19 is by getting vaccinated. Many people, no matter where they come from, live, or work, have questions about the vaccine. The Vaccine 101 Training slide deck was created to help answer some of the most common questions and be a starting place for conversation about the vaccine.
This training was created to:
- Train people to start conversations about the COVID-19 vaccine and its importance.
- Provide information to members of the higher education community who want to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine in general.
Intended audience
- People looking for a synthesis of basic, accurate COVID-19 vaccine facts for themselves or to share with others.
- People with varying levels of experience interested in facilitating conversations about COVID-19 vaccines.
Tips for presenters
We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the Vaccine 101 Presenter Tips. It includes simple suggestions for using the slide deck and for tailoring the presentation for different audiences.
To request a copy of training materials
If you would like to use the Vaccine 101 Training PowerPoint and tips for presenters, please email the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) at Health.HigherEd.Covid19@state.mn.us to request copies.
Hosting a vaccine clinic on campus
- Even if you don't have a confirmed date for your clinic, start planning now to increase the likelihood that you'll get more shots in arms by thinking through what needs to be done and how you'll do it.
- Use MDH's Host a Community COVID-19 Vaccination Event to plan a successful clinic.
Here are additional suggestions for hosting clinics on campus:
- Start working now with your marketing, communications, web and social media staff on the most effective ways to let your campus community know when and where the clinic will take place.
- Consider whether there are groups within your campus community who have a greater need to get vaccinated. Are there groups of students who are more likely to be unvaccinated, are at higher risk of severe disease, are frequently exposed to misinformation about vaccines, have historically experienced barriers when trying to access health care? Consider them your target groups. Invest time and energy into figuring out how to motivate them to attend the clinic.
- Ask student groups, campus life staff, faculty, and trusted messengers for input on effective messaging and to help promote vaccine at their meetings, classes, and through their social media.
- Choose two or three vaccine messages that resonate with your targeted audience and may compel them to get vaccinated. Use those messages to promote your clinic on platforms they frequent (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, student newsletter). Check out sample messages at Host a Community COVID-19 Vaccination Event.
- Connect with trusted messengers- people in your school community that are respected by the group(s) you want to show up at your clinic. Trusted leaders could be student leaders, residential life staff, counselors, coaches, athletic trainers, bargaining unit leaders, faculty, or anyone members of your targeted audience seek out during challenging times.
- Trusted messengers can help promote the clinic by hosting listening sessions with members of your target group a few days before the clinic and generally acting as ambassadors for your clinic.
- Provide trusted messengers with information they need to promote the clinic to students they connect with. Get their input on the best ways to reach your audience. If there is a specific group you are targeting with this vaccine clinic, start reaching out to their trusted messengers during your initial planning to use their insight and expertise.
- Partner with businesses, clinics, churches, social service agencies, or others in your school community. They might be interested in helping with outreach, staffing, or otherwise supporting the clinic.
- Provide and promote incentives. Common vaccine incentives include gift cards for a campus bookstore or specific school merch, bus passes, food at the clinic, and IAC offers free "I got My COVID-19 Vaccine" stickers or buttons. Ask members of your target group what would incentivize them to show up at the clinic.
- Schedule the clinic on days when more people are likely to be on campus.
- Hold your clinic in conjunction with another popular event. Schools have increased clinic attendance by holding their clinic next to a Career Fair and in areas with lots of foot traffic.
- Have people at the clinic to answer questions about the vaccine. Accurate, easy to understand information can help people make informed decisions about getting vaccinated. Have clinic staff review vaccine basics at About COVID-19 Vaccine. Walk clinic staff through the MDH Vaccine 101 Training.
- Run a safe clinic. Use this Checklist for Vaccination at Satellite, Temporary, or Off-site Locations to safely manage staff, vaccines, and others the day of your clinic.
- Promote how to find vaccination sites near your campus.
- There are many COVID-19 vaccine locations available around the state. Encourage students, faculty, and staff to Find COVID-19 vaccine locations near them.