The city is turning to the Avengers to educate youths across the five boroughs to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and the real-life superheroes from SOMOS Community Care, the New York City-based healthcare network that has been on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic, will launch a three-month back-to-school campaign directed at underserved communities across the city and country.
“This road to recovery runs through the immigrant communities of color that have been hit hardest by this pandemic and left behind in a vaccine roll-out marked by inequity and misinformation campaigns,” said SOMOS US Co-founder Henry. R Muñoz, III. “Being able to unite Marvel Entertainment with the trusted voices from the community doctors of SOMOS Community Care in a public education campaign designed to drive awareness is a really big deal. This campaign symbolizes where art meets purpose and shows that people nationwide can come together and build community, and look together to the future.”
The campaign will extend through Hispanic Heritage Month and include the distribution of a limited-edition comic book, “AVENGERS: WE ARE RESILIENT,” and poster series, as well as in-person events to encourage families to learn more about the vaccine.
The campaign is being well received in Queens, which was known as the “epicenter of the epicenter” during the height of the pandemic, and which has numerous communities that lag behind the city in vaccinations.
“The frontline workers of Queens who have sacrificed so much over the past 18 months to save lives and keep our borough afloat in our time of need are society’s true superheroes. But there’s a superhero in each of us, too — all you have to do is get vaccinated against COVID-19,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “Every Queens resident has the ability to keep their community safe from this villainous pandemic, and I thank SOMOS Community Care and Marvel for their innovative partnership to inspire confidence in these safe, free and effective vaccines.”
Students are heading back to school as the delta variant continues to spread, making it critical to educate families and children about the importance of vaccinations.
“I applaud Marvel Entertainment and SOMOS for partnering together to promote awareness of the COVID-19 vaccine in a back-to-school campaign for Black, Hispanic, Asian and other minority communities in NYC,” Congresswoman Grace Meng said. “There has been so much misinformation and disinformation surrounding the vaccine and this effort comes at a critical time as we prepare to send our students — the future leaders of America — back to in-person learning. Dispelling myths and outright falsehoods will help increase the number of vaccinated students in NYC. I look forward to the campaign’s success.”
The three-month campaign includes a special edition comic, stand-alone posters and a “video comic” which can be viewed at somosvaccinations.com.
For more information on SOMOS and to find in-person events and vaccination sites, visit somosvaccinations.com.
“This partnership between Marvel and SOMOS Community Care is the type of innovative, community work that sets New York City apart,” Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said. “I cannot wait to see the comics celebrating our frontline heroes and know that this community outreach campaign will help make our city safer and healthier.”
