Released: August 04, 2021

Consumer Action publishes new fact sheets on overcoming vaccine hesitancy

Free resources help move communities from 'survive' to 'thrive' through increased vaccination

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Consumer Action, a national consumer education and advocacy nonprofit, has published two new fact sheets designed to help increase U.S. vaccination rates.

Getting enough people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity is critical to saving lives and enabling the country to recover from the devastation of the pandemic, yet as of July 2021, around half of U.S. adults were still unvaccinated, with many basing their decision not to get the vaccine on inaccurate or misleading information.

Distinguishing between vaccine fact and fiction counters specific vaccination objections with facts, explains why someone should get vaccinated, gives tips for recognizing and stemming vaccine misinformation/disinformation, and directs readers to resources that can help them get a vaccination. The companion guide, Coronavirus vaccination outreach resources for community-based organizations, shares tools and information from trustworthy sources that will help community-based organizations encourage and communicate about COVID-19 vaccination within their communities.

“For over a year now, millions of consumers, hard hit by the pandemic, have been just hanging on,” said Ken McEldowney, Consumer Action’s executive director. “It’s crucial we combat the misinformation and disinformation preventing the country from transitioning from ‘survive’ to ‘thrive.’”

The two vaccine-related fact sheets, both funded by AT&T, were produced as part of Consumer Action’s COVID-19 Educational Project, an effort launched in mid-2020 to provide consumers—particularly low- and moderate-income workers, limited-English speakers and other hard-hit communities—with essential information and valuable resources that can help them cope with the financial fallout of the pandemic.

The resources are available for free download in English now, and can be freely reproduced by community-based organizations to distribute to their individual clients and throughout their communities. The fact sheets will be made available in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean in August and September, as translations are completed.

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Consumer Action is a nonprofit organization that has championed the rights of underrepresented consumers nationwide since 1971. Throughout its history, the organization has dedicated its resources to promoting financial and consumer literacy and advocating for consumer rights both in the media and before lawmakers to promote economic justice for all. With the resources and infrastructure to reach millions of consumers, Consumer Action is one of the most recognized, effective and trusted consumer organizations in the nation.

Consumer education. To empower consumers to assert their rights in the marketplace, Consumer Action provides a range of educational resources. The organization’s extensive library of free publications offers in-depth information on many topics related to personal money management, housing, insurance and privacy, while its hotline provides non-legal advice and referrals. On our website, visitors have instant access to important consumer news, downloadable materials, an online “help desk,” the Take Action advocacy database, and more. Consumer Action also publishes unbiased surveys of financial and consumer services that expose excessive prices and anti-consumer practices to help consumers make informed buying choices and elicit change from big business. Our in-language media outreach allows us to share scam alerts and other timely consumer news with a wide non-English-speaking audience.

Community outreach. With a special focus on serving low- and moderate-income and limited-English-speaking consumers, Consumer Action maintains strong ties to a national network of more than 6,000 community-based organizations. Outreach services include in-person and web-based training and bulk mailings of financial and consumer education materials in many languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Consumer Action’s network is the largest and most diverse of its kind.

Advocacy. Consumer Action is deeply committed to ensuring that underrepresented consumers are represented in the national media and in front of lawmakers. The organization promotes pro-consumer policy, regulation and legislation by taking positions on dozens of bills at the state and national levels and submitting comments and testimony on a host of consumer protection issues. Additionally, its diverse staff provides the media with expert commentary on key consumer issues supported by solid data and victim testimony.