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We Can Do This

Also: COVID-19 Public Education Campaign

“We Can Do This”

HHS national COVID-19 public education campaign launched April 2021 to build vaccine confidence and uptake, using TV, digital, radio, print and out-of-home ads (over 7,000 ads in 14 languages), trusted messengers and the volunteer COVID-19 Community Corps. Run for HHS by Fors Marsh, which designed the theme.

Years
2021
Country
United States
Budget
$377 million in campaign expenditures April 2021-March 2022 (benefit-cost study as reported by CIDRAP); Fors Marsh received a $250 million NIH-awarded contract in Sept 2020
Topic
Infectious diseaseVaccination
Asks people to
Start
Strategy
Social normsTestimonial
Channel
InfluencerOutdoorPrintRadioSearchSocial (paid)TV
Audience
Adults
All US adults, with tailored work for Black, Latino, AA/NHPI and rural audiences.

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalPositive

Media-dose models linking market-level TV GRPs and digital impressions to a national panel (n=3,278): short-term digital dose and cumulative TV dose both associated with first-dose vaccination (Denison 2023). Digital impressions associated with uptake more strongly among Black and Latino adults; estimated to close 5% of the racial/ethnic vaccination gap Apr-Sep 2021 (Luchman 2023). Booster campaign associated with faster booster uptake (Denison 2024). Benefit-cost study: about $89.54 in societal benefits per $1 spent; ~2.6 million infections averted. All analyses authored by HHS and its contractor.

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Denison B et al. Evaluation of the 'We Can Do This' Campaign Paid Media and COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake, United States, December 2020-January 2022. J Health Commun 2023;28(9):573-584 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1080/10810730.2023.2236976 · PMID 37528606
  2. Luchman JN et al. Association Between HHS' COVID-19 Public Education Campaign and Initial Adult COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake by Race and Ethnicity. Health Promot Pract 2024;25(4):602-611 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1177/15248399231221159 · PMID 38158812
  3. Denison B et al. Association Between the 'We Can Do This' Campaign and COVID-19 Booster Uptake, U.S., 2021-2022. AJPM Focus 2024;3(2):100183 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1016/j.focus.2024.100183 · PMID 38357552
  4. Study: HHS's COVID vaccine campaign saved $732 billion in averted infections, costs (CIDRAP) news · 2024
  5. GAO-22-104724: COVID-19 public education campaign reference · 2022
  6. Williams CJ et al. The Initial Relationship Between the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Digital COVID-19 Public Education Campaign and Vaccine Uptake: Campaign Effectiveness Evaluation. J Med Internet Res 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.2196/43873 · PMID 36939670
  7. Kim JC et al. The Association Between the We Can Do This Campaign and Vaccination Beliefs in the United States, January 2021-March 2022. J Health Commun 2024 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1080/10810730.2024.2373159 · PMID 38958603
  8. Kim JC et al. Evaluating the Impact of the 'We Can Do This' Campaign's Heavy-Up Advertising on Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake. Health Commun 2025 evaluation · 2025 · DOI 10.1080/10410236.2025.2449713 · PMID 39828658
  9. Turner S et al. Benefit-Cost Analysis of the HHS COVID-19 Campaign: April 2021-March 2022. Am J Prev Med 2024 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1016/j.amepre.2024.03.018 · PMID 38713123

Research notes

Distinct from the Ad Council/COVID Collaborative 'It's Up to You' (separate record). Contractor-authored evaluations; independent replication would strengthen the evidence. Add the AJPM benefit-cost paper's DOI once seen. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Fors Marsh and Atlas Research (GAO-22-104724 product page, read via Wayback: NIH made a $250 million award in September 2020 to Fors Marsh Group, which developed the messages and 'designed the campaign's theme and logo, We Can Do This'; FDA awarded a nearly $15 million contract in September 2020 to Atlas Research to develop a series of PSAs); Fors Marsh evaluation (Crossref: J Health Commun 2023, authors at Fors Marsh, covers Dec 2020 - Jan 2022). Corrected 2026-10-22: added Atlas Research; evaluation years changed from 2021-2024 to 2020-2022, the period the paper covers. End year not confirmed. Meta Ad Library: search 'U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' and 'We Can Do This'. Kim 2024 added 2026-10-22 (openalex-deep queue; DOI checked on Crossref and PMID via NCBI esummary 2026-10-22): paid digital impressions associated with fewer vaccine concerns and more perceived benefits; authors from Fors Marsh and HHS. Evidence unchanged. Evaluation sources added 2026-10-22 (citation snowballing / helpline pass): Kim 2025, Turner 2024; evidence level and outcome unchanged.

Record cases/hhs-we-can-do-this.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign