New Campaign Underway!

This week saw the launch of DSR’s new campaign, #ItsNotTooLateToVaccinate.

A partnership between DSR and the Victorian Department of Health, the campaign promotes the importance of being vaccinated against COVID-19 and getting that all important third dose.

Health data consistently shows that people under the age of 30 are not getting their third dose and the Department wanted to work with organisations to help reach more vulnerable communities. DSR hired a Project Manager to oversee the campaign and worked closely with the recently formed Disability Advisory Committee, ensuring the project was co-designed very early on.

Ensuring that other organisations were involved was also critical to the campaign’s success. Jill Young, Project Manager, stated “Not only did we want the project to be informed by people with disability but those within the sport and rec sector as well. We have had fantastic partner engagement with organisations stepping in at the last minute to help ease the very tight timeframes.”

[Image ID: a middle aged woman, Jill Young, is sitting on a bench outside with a middle aged male, Andrew Negrelli. Andrew is holding a tennis racket in his hands and Jill has a racket on her lap. The two are facing at each other in conversation.]

The campaign consists of three videos of young athletes talking about their COVID-19 vaccination journeys and this approach was very deliberate. “We didn’t want to just make videos about why people should get vaccinated”, Young said. “Instead, we wanted to focus on the journey that people take in deciding to be vaccinated, recognising that this is different for everyone”.

Michael Prapas

Mia Treadwell

Andrew Negrelli

[Image 1 (left) ID: a young person, Michael Prapas, is looking slightly up and to the side smiling. They are wearing a navy blue top and are outside with trees and a blue sky behind them. Image 2 (middle) ID: a young person, Mia Treadwell, is in an outdoor swimming pool smiling and looking away from the camera, she is wearing blue goggles. Image 3 (right) ID: a middle aged person, Andrew Negrelli, is sitting outside and there is an outdoor tennis court behind them. Andrew is wearing a grey sports jacket with red details.]

The first video, launched on 26th April, features Michael Prapas who plays soccer for the Victorian Paralympic Soccer Team. He shares what he found to be tricky during lockdown and how Zoom was a poor alternative to real life sport and socialising.

Today we are launching Mia Treadwell’s video. Mia is an Athlete Leader for Special Olympics and is an outstanding swimmer. In October, Mia is heading to Tasmania to represent Victoria at the national games. Mia saw the vaccine as her ticket to freedom and thinks that having a chat with you doctor is a good choice if you are still in doubt.

Lastly, on 4th May, we have tennis player extraordinaire, Andrew Negrelli. Andrew shares how getting the vaccine didn’t just lead to returning to sport and socialising but being able to get back to work as well.

Please go tohttps://www.dsr.org.au/vaccinate to view the videos and share them far and wide. Remember, #ItsNotTooLateToVaccinate!

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