Statement from President and CEO Mike Slubowski on the Launch of the Trinity Health $1.6M COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, recently warned Americans, “We are at a critical point in this pandemic, a fork in the road, where we as a country must decide which path we are going to take,…[and] if we don’t take the right actions now we will have another avoidable surge...” Dr. Walensky was referring both to exposure precautions and mass vaccination.

Vaccinations are the light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, but only IF the overwhelming majority of Americans choose to receive one and continue to stay safe by wearing masks and avoiding crowded spaces until sufficient numbers of people are vaccinated. Trinity Health believes that vaccination saves lives, reduces transmission, and leads us to normalcy.

To advance broad acceptance of vaccines, Trinity Health launched a $1.6 million vaccine campaign using community outreach programs, influencers and media to reach underserved communities. The It Starts Here campaign features local influencers who represent the culture and ethnicity of the people in our communities; with a particular focus on 14 targeted communities with high percentages of people of color. The campaign is designed to raise awareness and promote availability of vaccine. As this newly released Department of Health and Human Services report describes, communities of color have been hit hardest by COVID-19. Influencers in local communities will talk about the facts, address fears and share information on how to get vaccines. The campaign is running on social media and radio.

It Starts Here is just one example of the innovative, community-based approach that Trinity Health is taking to fight COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trinity Health has treated more than 37,000 COVID-19 inpatients and another 100,000 patients in ambulatory settings. Additionally, we’ve stood up 78 vaccine clinics capable of administering vaccine to more than 1 percent of the U.S. population when provided adequate supply. Trinity Health will continue to meet the needs of our communities and are pleased to collaborate with community influencers of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, political parties, professions and religions to speak up on the importance of vaccinations. With each shot, we're one step closer to ending this pandemic.

About Trinity Health


Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving diverse communities that include more than 30 million people across 22 states. We advocate for public policies that promote Care for the Common Good including expanding health care coverage and care, investing in public health, paying for high-value care, and improving the health of the communities. For more information, visit https://www.trinity-health.org/about-us/.