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Profiles

19 to Zero

19 to Zero is a Canadian behavioural science program based in Calgary, Alberta. It acts as the Canadian arm of the COVID-19 New Vaccine Information, Communication, and Engagement Initiative (CONVINCE).[1]

Its purpose is to increase confidence in vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases by tackling vaccine hesitancy, to increase vaccine uptake in order to meet immunization targets, and working to coordinate messaging among health care workers across Canada.[2]

The group publishes materials on its website and through partner organizations, including videos, billboards, presentations, brochures and in-person events.

History

19 to Zero was launched at the University of Calgary in August of 2020 in order to influence the behaviour of the general public surrounding public health measures and COVID-19 vaccines.[1:1][3]

In September 2020, Alberta Innovates announced a $392,080 grant to fund 19 to Zero with a project titled "Changing COVID-19 Behaviors through a data-driven targeted marketing campaign."[4]

19 to Zero collaborated in the development of the Vaccine Hesitancy Guide,[5] and was a participant in the Faster Together program.[6]

On March 12, 2021, 19 to Zero hosted a webinar on vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 conspiracy theories led by members of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, Queen's University, University of Waterloo and Alberta Children's Hospital.[7] A fundraiser led by the University of Calgary raised $86,825 towards supporting 19 to Zero's efforts against COVID-19 misinformation, falling short of its $100,000 goal.[8]

Beginning in April 2021, Global Shapers Calgary supported 19 to Zero by hosting town hall sessions on COVID-19 vaccines.[9]

Nathan Stall produced a video with 19 to Zero for AdvantAge Ontario, uploaded to Dropbox on June 10, 2021.[10]

Some of 19 to Zero's community engagement activities included handing out postcards with QR codes linking to available vaccination appointments.[11]

In August 2021, Shoppers Drug Mart announced it was providing funding to 19 to Zero in order to increase delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to target hesitant populations.[12] 19 to Zero also partnered with Suncor Energy, who contributed $150,000 to coordinate a local vaccination campaign.[13][14] In October 2021, the group launched a new behaviour change campaign called "It's Never Too Late" following an "unprecedented surge" of admissions to intensive care units in Alberta.[13:1] The campaign video was produced with Emergence Creative to increase "stalled" vaccination rates, and was accompanied by billboard advertisements.[15]

Following Health Canada's approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 6 months to 11 years old, 19 to Zero participated in an advertising campaign called "Max the Vax" alongside the Canadian Medical Association, the Regional Municipality of York and the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.[16]

In 2022, 19 to Zero received a $480,000 grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada's Immunization Partnership Fund for a project titled "Reinventing the Critical Role of Schools in Building vaccine Confidence across Canada."[17]

Organization

19 to Zero is led by Jia Hu, a Medical Officer of Health with Alberta Health Services.[2:1] Hu is medical director of Cleveland Clinic Canada, having previously worked at McKinsey & Company consulting in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.[18] He sits on the board of directors for Partners in Health Canada, and has worked during the COVID-19 era to ramp up testing, risk communication and contact tracing. He also developed a contact tracing app funded by Alberta Innovates,[19] and published research on behaviour change strategies towards increasing uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among children and other target populations.[20][21][22]

19 to Zero's Vice Chair is Rachel Bensler, a student at the University of Alberta.[11:1]

19 to Zero co-conceptualized the This Is Our Shot COVID-19 vaccine advertising campaign with the South Asian COVID Task Force, Latin-American Covid Task Force, Black Physicians of Canada, Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force, Siksika Health Services and BlackNorth Initiative.[23]

Partners

19 to Zero's partners include:

  • Alberta Blue Cross
  • Alberta Innovates
  • Alberta Medical Association
  • Angus Reid Institute
  • BEworks
  • Black Physicians' Association of Ontario (BPAO)
  • Calgary Public Library
  • Canadian Cancer Society
  • Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force (CMCTF)
  • Centre for Newcomers
  • Centre for Effective Practice (CEP)
  • Champion Communications & PR
  • Cleveland Clinic
  • Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
  • Cumming School of Medicine
  • Dartmouth College
  • Emergence Creative
  • Entripy
  • Health Commons Solutions Lab
  • Hill+Knowlton Strategies
  • IV.AI
  • Kantar
  • Kids Help Phone
  • Latin-American Covid Task Force
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • McCann
  • McMaster University
  • Mount Sinai Health System
  • National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH)
  • Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada
  • New York Academy of Sciences
  • Oliver
  • Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP)
  • Partners in Health Canada
  • Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN)
  • ScienceUpFirst[24]
  • South Asian COVID Task Force
  • Toronto Public Health (TPH)
  • Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
  • UBC Innovation Support Unit (ISU)
  • University of Alberta
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of Calgary
  • University of Manitoba
  • University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM)
  • Vaccine Confidence Project
  • WestJet
  • Women's College Hospital

Funders & Sponsors

In addition to the above partners, 19 to Zero has been funded and sponsored by several other organizations which have been removed from the website.[1:2][25]

Videos


  1. Who we are. 19 to Zero. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from http://archive.today/2021.05.12-021256/https://www.19tozero.ca/who-we-are ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. Noise, A. (2020, December 18). 19 To Zero: Closing the COVID-19 Vaccination Gap. Temerty Faculty of Medicine. https://web.archive.org/web/20230410162714/https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news/19-zero-closing-covid-19-vaccination-gap ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. 19 to Zero. VolunteerConnector. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.10.08-173629/https://www.volunteerconnector.org/calgary/19-to-zero ↩︎

  4. Semeniuk, R. (2020, September 10). Alberta Innovates injects $2.1 M into COVID Research. Alberta Innovates. https://web.archive.org/web/20221026201102/https://albertainnovates.ca/impact/newsroom/alberta-innovates-injects-2-1-million-into-covid-research/ ↩︎

  5. Credits and Collaborators. Vaccine Hesitancy Guide. Retrieved October 24, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.10.24-055920/https://www.vhguide.ca/about/credits ↩︎

  6. Home. Faster Together. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221129144335/https://fastertogether.ca/ ↩︎

  7. York Region Public Health. (2021, April 16). COVID-19 Resources Available for Health Care Professionals. York Region. https://web.archive.org/web/20221011162117/https://www.york.ca/media/80876/download ↩︎

  8. Vaccine Hesitancy: Convincing Canadians About the Importance of Vaccines. UCrowdfund; University of Calgary. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://archive.ph/2021.11.16-013820/https://crowdfunding.ucalgary.ca/o/university-of-calgary/i/ucrowdfund/s/vaccine-hesitancy-convincing-canadians-about-the-importance-of-vaccines ↩︎

  9. Healthy Cities. (2021, October 20). Shifting Perceptions Around COVID-19 Vaccination: 19 to Zero. YYC Shapers. https://web.archive.org/web/20220121111005/https://www.yycshapers.org/post/shifting-perceptions-around-covid-19-vaccination-19-to-zero ↩︎

  10. Nathan M. Stall. (2021, January). COVID-19 Vaccination. Internet Archive; 19 to Zero. https://archive.org/details/nathan-stall-vaccine-education-video-19-to-zero ↩︎

  11. Villani, M. (2021, June 27). Calgary-made vaccine coalition aims to build public confidence in COVID-19 shots. CTV News Calgary. https://web.archive.org/web/20221020174533/https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-made-vaccine-coalition-aims-to-build-public-confidence-in-COVID-19-shots-1.5487720 ↩︎ ↩︎

  12. Shoppers Drug Mart supporting 19 to Zero to address vaccine hesitancy. (2021, August 17). Canadian Business Franchise. https://web.archive.org/web/20210922023727/https://www.franchiseinfo.ca/news/shoppers-drug-mart-supporting-19-to-zero-to-address-vaccine-hesitancy/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  13. Beamish, L. (2021, October 28). “It’s never too late until it is”: Campaign targets vaccine hesitancy as hospitals struggle with COVID-19. Fort Mcmurray Today. https://web.archive.org/web/20211029004109/https://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/news/local-news/vaccine-campaign ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. Giving a boost to Canada’s vaccination efforts. (2021, June 15). Suncor Energy. https://web.archive.org/web/20221014164425/https://www.suncor.com/en-ca/news-and-stories/our-stories/giving-a-boost-to-canadas-vaccination-efforts ↩︎

  15. Kaufmann, B. (2021, November 20). “It’s stalled:” Group works to break vaccine hesitancy in Alberta. Calgary Herald. https://web.archive.org/web/20211121002111/https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/its-stalled-group-works-to-break-vaccine-hesitancy-in-alberta ↩︎

  16. Max the Vax. Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Charities. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://archive.ph/2022.10.11-154808/https://www.oacas.org/publications-and-campaigns/maxthevax/ ↩︎

  17. Public Health Agency of Canada. (2023, May 24). Immunization Partnership Fund. Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20230619212141/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization-vaccine-priorities/immunization-partnership-fund.html ↩︎ ↩︎

  18. Jia Hu, MD, FRCPC. Cleveland Clinic Canada. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220116100242/https://my.clevelandclinic.org/canada/staff/hu-jia ↩︎

  19. Gao, G., Lang, R., Oxoby, R. J., Mourali, M., Sheikh, H., Fullerton, M. M., Tang, T., Manns, B. J., Marshall, D. A., Hu, J., & Benham, J. L. (2022). Drivers of downloading and reasons for not downloading COVID-19 contact tracing and exposure notification apps: A national cross-sectional survey. PLoS ONE, 17(7), e0269783. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269783 ↩︎

  20. Yeo, J., Furr Gudmundsen, C., Fazel, S., Corrigan, A., Fullerton, M. M., Hu, J., Jadavji, T., Kuhn, S., Kassam, A., & Constantinescu, C. (2022). A behavior change model to address caregiver hesitancy around COVID-19 vaccination in pediatrics. Vaccine, 40(39), 5664–5669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.002 ↩︎

  21. Lazarus, J. V., Wyka, K., White, T. M., Picchio, C. A., Rabin, K., Ratzan, S. C., Parsons Leigh, J., Hu, J., & El-Mohandes, A. (2022). Revisiting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy around the world using data from 23 countries in 2021. Nature Communications, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31441-x ↩︎

  22. Fullerton, M. M., Benham, J., Graves, A., Fazel, S., Doucette, E. J., Oxoby, R. J., Mourali, M., Boucher, J.-C., Constantinescu, C., Leigh, J. P., Tang, T., Marshall, D. A., Hu, J., & Lang, R. (2022). Challenges and recommendations for COVID-19 public health messaging: a Canada-wide qualitative study using virtual focus groups. BMJ Open, 12(4), e054635. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054635 ↩︎

  23. Burman, D. (2021, December 8). This Is Our Shot campaign wraps up with over $111K donation to Kids Help Phone. City News Toronto. https://web.archive.org/web/20230714200043/https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/12/08/this-is-our-shot-campaign-ends-111k-donation-kids-help-phone/ ↩︎

  24. Partners of ScienceUpFirst. ScienceUpFirst. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.01.19-170539/https://www.scienceupfirst.com/partners/ ↩︎

  25. Who We Are. 19 to Zero. Retrieved June 3, 2021, from http://archive.today/2021.06.03-131629/https://www.19tozero.ca/who-we-are ↩︎