The OSU Covid Campus Coalition Instagram page. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
With much of college life still happening online, the Ohio State Covid Campus Coalition is taking advantage of the situation to put COVID-19 vaccine information in the palms of students’ hands.
The Covid Campus Coalition, a national student organization with groups at multiple universities, is using its Instagram page, which started Feb. 3 and now has more than 100 followers, to get the word out, Aya Cannon, who runs Ohio State’s page, said.
Cannon, a third-year in environmental public health, founded Ohio State’s branch of Covid Campus Coalition after she saw a LinkedIn post from Jordan Tralins, a student at Cornell University, who founded the first coalition.
Tralins, a second-year in human biology, health and society, said she created the first Covid Campus Coalition Instagram page for Cornell University in early January after she noticed what she called a lack of factual information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine circulating on social media.
“A lot of what we believe in, what we’re influenced by, comes from our social media,” Tralins said. “When I noticed the lack of factual information circulating, I thought that it would just be super helpful for college students to have easy access to factual information regarding COVID vaccines.”
Tralins said she works with Olivia Pawlowski and Lily Goldberger, also students at Cornell University, to pull information from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, New England Journal of Medicine and more to create graphic designs for the Instagram page. The graphics are then shared with Covid Campus Coalition groups at other universities to post on their Instagram pages, with some modifications to capture viewers’ attention.
“All of our graphics are made to be specific to each university,” Tralins said. “So we customize them to fit the color and the school name of each school because something I noticed was anytime I saw something related to Cornell, I just felt more inclined to read it and more inclined to put it on my story and more inclined to share.”
In addition to Ohio State and Cornell University, there are seven other schools with groups affiliated with the Covid Campus Coalition, according to its website. And two other universities are in the process of forming their own groups.
Instagram is currently the only platform the Covid Campus Coalition groups use to inform students about COVID-19 vaccines, Tralins said. But she said she hopes to eventually expand to other social media platforms.
Although spreading information is the primary goal of the page, Cannon said she hopes to create a sense of community around it as well.
“On any college campus it’s [a] really tight-knit community, but especially at OSU,” Cannon said.
Cannon said she is the only ambassador for the Ohio State Covid Campus Coalition but is interested in having other students join her. Students can help with finding information and running the Instagram page.
Those interested in more information can contact [email protected] or direct message the Instagram page.
