• by Les Luchter , May 15, 2023

Urban Health Plan, which runs community health centers serving three areas of New York City -- the South Bronx, Central Harlem and Corona, Queens -- has launched “I’m In My…Era,” an ad campaign in English and Spanish stressing the continuing need for people to get COVID boosters or their first vaccines.

Featuring heartwarming photos of people together with their loved ones and the message to “Be confident about tomorrow. Get your COVID vaccine or booster today,” each of six ads replaces the ellipses in the main “I’m In My…Era,” message with a demographically targeted group: "Super Abuelo," for baby boomers;  “Loving Hubby," for Gen X/boomers; "Proud Grandma" for boomers; “Confident Glamma/Abuela Chula,” for older Gen Z / boomers; "Adulting," for Gen Z/ millennials; and "Momma,” for millennials/younger Gen X.

Nonprofit ad agency F.Y. Eye created the ads and is placing the first four iterations over its free citywide PSA Network, which includes bus shelters, LinkNYC digital screens and nonprofit community spaces. PSA Network offers 2 million impressions, the agency says.

Additionally Urban Health Plan is running “Confident Glamma/Abuela Chula,” “Adulting,” and “Momma” in a social media campaign targeting the Bronx, Central Harlem and Corona, Queens, communities which the health provider explains were “some of the hardest-hit by the pandemic, and where many are still recovering.”

Indeed, in early April 2020, when the pandemic was barely a few weeks old, The New York Times was already reporting on Corona as the epicenter of the coronavirus.

New York City’s “Black and Hispanic communities along with younger demographics are the populations most behind, especially when it comes to the bivalent boosters,” Dr. Viju Jacob, Urban Health Plan’s medical director/vice president medical affairs, stated in a press release. He added that “COVID is still a threat to those whose immune systems cannot fight the virus, or who cannot recover as quickly.”

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved an additional dose of the current bivalent boosters for those 65 and older or who are immuno-compromised, Urban Health Plan pointed out.