Ms. Information Vaccine Campaign Launches

An entertaining new campaign has been launched to combat the sea of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines on social media that was branded an “infodemic” by the World Health Organization.

The Instagram-based campaign was created by healthcare agency FCB Health New York IPG and non-profit group GMHC and is fronted by drag queen and influencer Miz Jade.

As the glamorous and red-headed Ms. Information, the performer imparts facts about COVID-19 and coronavirus vaccines in a comedic style that bemoans the crippling impact of the pandemic on her social life. 

The campaign’s creators hope that playfully portraying the virus as the destroyer of a “hot girl summer” will encourage members of the LGBTQ+ community to get vaccinated. 

Ms. Information shares the facts in a fun way in a series of short video clips. Visitors to @therealmsinformation will encounter the drag queen wearing a figure-hugging leopard print dress and matching elbow-length gloves, imparting such witticisms as, “Girl, misinformation is spreading faster than a fire in a wig factory.”

Jason Cianciotto, GMHC’s senior managing director of institutional development & strategy, said that the campaign was a light-hearted alternative approach to putting hard pressure on the public to get vaccinated.

“We recognize that shaming people is not effective and can be detrimental to the well-being of the people we serve,” said Cianciotto. “We don’t want to lose the battle of misinformation about HIV/AIDS and Covid-19.”

Recent data analysis from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and PSB Insights found a high level of vaccine hesitancy in the black LGBTQ community. 

The data is based on a survey of 22,000 adults in the United States which asked how many LGBTQ people may be unlikely to say they want to get vaccinated. 

Overall, 42% of LGBTQ adults said that they were very likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine compared to just 39% of the general American population. However, only 29% of black LGBTQ said they were likely to get vaccinated. 

In exploring the impact of misinformation about the vaccine on the LGBTQ community, HRCF observed: “Despite the vaccines’ being available for free, LGBTQ adults have concerns about the cost of the vaccine, especially LGBTQ adults of color, bisexual adults and transgender adults.”