A new national public health effort created to foster vaccine education and to combat misinformation has selected President Brian W. Casey as one of the leaders featured in the group’s social media awareness campaign.
Dubbed ‘Count Me In,’ the education project features dozens of leaders from business, media, healthcare, and education to provide individuals and organizations with information to build confidence in authorized COVID-19 vaccines, and to motivate and inspire people to collectively fight the pandemic.
“Each of us doing our part to be vaccinated is a critical component of supporting the health and wellbeing of our community in Hamilton and around the world,” said President Casey. “As I have said since the start of the pandemic, we can overcome all obstacles, no matter how difficult, by working together with a spirit of altruism.”
Count Me In was created by the , a group of more than 160 organizations led by the Alliance for Aging Research, Healthy Women, and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging. There are also several IJʿ connections.
Janet McUlsky ’78, who worked as the senior director of alliance development for Pfizer for nearly 20 years, now works as a consultant for Reservoir Communications, which was tasked with helping to create the public education campaign.
“The goal of the project is to help create a dialogue and understanding around COVID vaccines to help dispel the terrible misinformation that has been circulating, particularly within the most vulnerable populations,” said McUlsky, who was a double major in political science and psychology while at IJʿ. She was also a founding member of the Swinging ’Gates.
In the creation of the Count Me In campaign, McUlsky reached out to fellow IJʿ graduate Scott Williams ’80, a partner at the communications firm ForeFront Strategies.
“Looking over how other colleges managed COVID-19, President Casey went above and beyond the logistical challenges, which sets him and IJʿ apart. And it is a big lesson to society about how to approach a social challenge, to get people to care,” said Williams.
In addition to President Casey’s involvement, the group also selected six other individuals with IJʿ connections, including students who volunteer with the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department. IJʿ faces in Count Me In include Ani Arzoumanian ’22, Pete Shelsky ’01, Neil Krulewitz ’12, Nate Freishtat ’22, Lacey Williams ’16, and Carry Hays ’80. Williams also worked with IJʿ alumnus Stephen Brown ’81, a senior executive at Fox TV, to help with bringing on board several television personalities, including Meredith Vieira, Faith Jenkins, and Heidi Hamilton.
“We have a long way to go to get the nation fully vaccinated, and the public needs to hear a steady drumbeat of messages on the safety of our vaccines and the importance for all of us to ‘Count Me In’ for a shot,” Williams said.