The Vaccine Hunters, or “Las Cazas Vacunas,” is a group of eighth grade teachers honored for helping people get vaccinated in Montgomery County, Maryland. Big Shots, a national student-driven campaign that started in June, is honoring people who are raising COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Photo courtesy the Vaccine Hunters
In fall 2020, colleges and universities across the U.S. were either online or had severely reduced their in-person offerings. This fall semester, thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, many students are returning to campuses and classrooms.
Students at the City University of New York School of Public Health are celebrating the heroes that made that possible with their Big Shots award campaign.
“There is so much to celebrate in terms of scientific advancement and human effort across the country,” Hannah Stuart Lathan, MPH, a former student project leader, told The Nation’s Health.
Big Shots is a student-driven campaign that honors local leaders who have impacted their community’s COVID-19 vaccination work.
People across the U.S. are invited to nominate people of all ages who creatively and heroically help eligible folks to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated against COVID-19 for an award. Winners are chosen by the student leaders.
‘(The winners) are representative of the great efforts that individuals took to care for others within their communities,” Madeleine Singer, an undergraduate intern for Big Shots, told The Nation’s Health. “Prior to the pandemic, they were not all in leadership positions, but in the face of adversity, the winners stepped up to do good.’
The student-led campaign, which debuted in June, is moving forward quickly. With support from the CDC Foundation and other partners, the campaign announced its first round of National Big Shots Award winners with an online award show this summer.
The celebratory tone is warranted, Lathan said. When the campaign was created earlier in the year, it was uncertain how many Ameri-cans would be vaccinated. By the end of June, 45% of eligible people in the U.S. were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and APHA and other advocates were working to boost those numbers.
‘We needed to tell stories of people who were clear-eyed and who, with their full heart, made an effort to help others to get vaccinated,” said Lathan, who is now a program assistant at the university. “They helped us move faster than we could have ever imagined back then.’
While many states, including New York, hit critical vaccine milestones prior to the debut of the project, Lathan and the student organizers hope they can spur others to action and help continue the fight against vaccine hesitancy.
Lauren Swan-Potras, an MS candidate and social campaign coordinator for Big Shots, said she hopes that sharing inspiring stories will also help foster dialogue aboutequity and literacy.
‘I am inspired by the power and pull of community and healthy, respectful communication,” she told The Nation’s Health. “As future public health professionals, we need to look to communities and really listen to what they need — listen to fears, worries, concerns.’
As the campaign grows, Lathan is optimistic that the students leading it will grow as well.
‘It builds an incredible amount of experience and leadership very quickly when you find other like-minded, passionate students and tackle a project together,” Lathan said.
For Singer, it has been both a rewarding and empowering experience.
‘As a young person without a degree, I often felt like my voice did not hold enough authority to impactfully educate others about vaccination,” she said. “Big Shots has not only given me a voice at the table but also a platform to help reach a wider community.’
For more information and to nominate a vaccination hero, visit www.bigshotsheroes.org.
Image courtesy Big Shots campaign
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
