Vaccine Information for Young People in Scotland

2021

Vaccine Information for Young People in Scotland

Since the start of the pandemic, Young Scot has been providing relevant, timely and factually-correct information for young people. This includes up-to-date information on restrictions and support for young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. 

Recently, Young Scot has been partnering with the Scottish Government and providing bespoke information on vaccines – and encouraging young people to sign up to get their vaccine too. Working with their Young Scot Health Panel #YSHealth (a group of volunteers who are 14-25-years-old), they co-created content for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, young.scot and the new Young Scotcast (podcast). 

Recognising that some young people are hesitant about getting the vaccine, Young Scot worked with the volunteers to understand their experiences of getting vaccinated and identify any fears they might have. The volunteers also got the chance to put questions to Scotland’s National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch. Using this information and insight, two of the young volunteers took over Young Scot’s Instagram and answered young people’s questions about vaccines, which were submitted using Instagram’s Q&A stickers. 

The volunteers also told Young Scot that there was a lack of positive or neutral stories about vaccines on social media and in the media. In response, Young Scot recorded video interviews with several young people who had received the vaccine. During the recordings, the young people shared their vaccine experiences, what side effects they experienced and explained why they wanted to get the vaccine. The videos were published and promoted on TikTok and Instagram. TikTok also featured the campaign on their TikTok for Business blog.

Finally, Young Scot recently launched a podcast with Capital Radio Scotland and used this medium to inform young people about vaccines. Working with the host, Katy J, two volunteers chatted to Professor Jason Leitch about vaccines and answered young people’s questions.

To date, the vaccines campaign has received over two million impressions and nearly 70,000 engagements. You can view some of the content that was created for this campaign below:

• LISTEN: Young Scotcast with Capital’s Katy J speaking to Professor Jason Leitch as well as Dionne and Ewan from #YSHealth

• VISIT: Young Scot vaccination page with FAQs, information and young people’s vaccine experiences.

• WATCH: Videos on TikTok where young people answer questions about their vaccine experiences.