Michigan’s education levels drive vaccines. What is the price in your neighborhood?

In Battle Creek, the vaccine ambassadors spent six weeks chatting with 1,900 people who had not been vaccinated, said Angela Stewart, community initiatives manager for the Battle Creek Community Foundation.

A recent family health evening at a local primary school, promoted over two days, led to five new vaccinations, she said.

Bay County and Battle Creek officials said that despite local, state and national campaigns, many fear the vaccine or believe bad news they have heard on social media or from friends.

“There’s always this fear and this misinformation,” said Stewart.

“Economically, it doesn’t make sense not to get vaccinated,” he said. “They are ready to play with it and it is painful.”

But there are still plenty of demographics that put the fear aside.

More than 72% of people 65 and older – by far the most likely to die if they contract COVID-19 – are fully vaccinated in Michigan, state records show.

‘Stay focused’

In Albion, southwest Michigan, Rod Auton, director of the nonprofit Albion Health Care Alliance, said his team of 17 ambassadors were still going door-to-door to try to close the sale. .

It’s slow; a recent event generated less than 10 vaccinations, he said.

In Albion, between 32% and 48% of people are vaccinated, according to census tract data. All regions have a lower percentage of university graduates. In 2020, the city backed Biden.

“We know we just need to stay focused and deliver the right information,” Auton said.

But aware that many hesitant are more likely to listen to family and friends or employers than local health officials, they offered postcards with two local doctors – one white and one black – emphasizing the value of vaccines. .

They send them across Albion and to neighboring townships, along with the black doctor’s postcard to African-American communities and the white doctor’s postcard to white communities.

The alliance hopes the postcards will work, Auton said. But like Strasz, he’s looking for that perfect argument, that key piece of information that will unlock hesitation. So far, he hasn’t found it.

“We’re still trying to figure out that magic,” Auton said.