The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Doane University is answering a new calling in the time of COVID-19 — public health outreach.
Doane has joined more than 100 other colleges and universities in the "Faith in the Vaccine" campaign, using faith-based approaches to encourage individuals to get a shot.
The campaign, sponsored by the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, aims to empower students to address vaccine hesitancy in their communities by appealing to one's faith.
Polling done by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core in June showed vaccine-hesitant and vaccine-refusing groups could be persuaded by a faith-based approach encouraging them to get a shot.
According to , nearly 4 in 10 vaccine-hesitant Americans who attend religious services several times a year say an appeal based in their faith would make them more likely to roll up their sleeve.
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Meanwhile, one-fifth of those who refuse to get a vaccine said a faith-based approach would make them more likely to consider it, the results showed.
Among those who have been vaccinated, 54% of Hispanic Protestants said they were encouraged to get a shot in a faith-based setting, while 26% of evangelical Protestants and 25% of white Catholics said the same.
Leah Rediger, the director of religious and spiritual life at Doane, said encouraging vaccinations, which protect individuals as well as communities, is a natural extension of the office's mission.
"We do a lot of work around religious literacy education to help students, faculty and staff understand how to be a better neighbor to those who orient around religion differently than they do," Rediger said.
The ambassadors — 11 undergraduate, graduate and recently graduated Doane students — are encouraged to create "a positive culture" around the vaccine, Rediger said, by listening to where a vaccine-hesitant person may be coming from before asking them what may change their mind.
"We want to avoid the backfire effect, where the more you try to convince someone of your point of view, the more deeply entrenched they become in their perspective," she said.
Bilingual ambassadors will do outreach into Spanish-speaking communities in Lincoln and Crete to better understand what barriers are keeping people from getting vaccinated and find out how those obstacles can be removed.
The goal is to build relationships and model behavior that could potentially inspire a person to make a healthy choice for their community, Rediger added.
"There are a lot of things we can't do, like control the choices of the people in my community," she said. "But we can build a positive culture around the vaccine and encourage others to get vaccinated or help them with access."
Regina Sullivan, who is finishing up a degree in business management at Doane's campus in Lincoln, has experienced firsthand the hesitation some face when it comes to taking a vaccine.
"A lot of my close friends or family were hesitant because of a lack of knowledge about the vaccine," Sullivan said. "Or they were nervous because African Americans don't have a great history when it comes to vaccinations."
Once she learned what those barriers were, Sullivan, who has worked in community outreach, said she aimed to figure out how they could be taken down.
Sometimes, it's as simple as helping someone register online, or finding transportation to get to a vaccination clinic. Other times, it involves getting the right information into their hands showing the vaccines are safe and effective.
Sullivan, who will be encouraging others to get vaccinated at the Streets Alive! outdoor festival Sept. 26 in Lincoln, said the common theme is helping to connect people with the right resources in the community.
"If we keep that conversation open, I think we can eventually break down those barriers," she said.
Doane's other ambassadors are also ramping up their efforts, reaching out to faith communities in the area to ask how the "Faith in the Vaccine" campaign can support them, provide translation services, child care or transportation.
There's evidence the approach taught by the Interfaith Youth Core to more than 2,000 ambassadors, including a group at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, works in inspiring others to get vaccinated.
According to the results of the June survey, 56% of those surveyed agreed getting vaccinated was an example of loving their neighbors — an underlying principle in many faith traditions — compared with 53% surveyed in March.
Rediger said in addition to helping more Nebraskans get a shot — 52% of the state's population is fully vaccinated, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services — the campaign is also aimed at rebuilding trust, both among communities and in institutions.
"I have to believe we can have faith in other people to make those good and ethical choices, no matter their beliefs," she said. "This project is me and the mission of my office actively fighting for that."