TO: All Interested Parties
FROM: Keith Farley, RFQQ Coordinator
Washington State Department of Health
Contracts and Procurements
SUBJECT: Outreach Notification
RFQQ # DOH24-014C, Ukrainian- and Russian- speaking Vaccine Confidence and Health Promotion Campaign
The purpose of this solicitation is to identify the best contractor who can provide evidence-based health communication, education, and advertising services and market research for the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking Vaccine Confidence and Health Promotion Campaign.
The goal of this social marketing campaign is to protect the health and safety of all Washingtonians by delivering critically important health messaging to Ukrainian- and Russian and immigrants living in Washington state, including recently arrived Ukrainian refugees. These communities are at an especially high risk of vaccine hesitancy, negative outcomes from vaccine preventable diseases, and a lack of awareness of key health services available to them.
The successful bidder will develop distinct bodies of work for this campaign, which will involve working with distinct and diverse subject matter experts, key stakeholders, and audiences.
Background
Since the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war in early 2022 and ensuing humanitarian crisis, 128,000 Ukrainian arrivals have entered the United States as of March 2023. Washington state now has the 4th largest population of these Ukrainian arrivals in the country with over 20,000 resettled between January 2022 and March 2023. A majority of these include Ukrainian families with school-aged children. This massive influx of new arrivals has strained refugee resettlement agency capacity and public health structures.
While arrivals must abide by health attestation requirements, including certain immunizations and tuberculosis testing and children need to be enrolled in schools and provide records to meet immunization requirements, immunization rates among children and adults in Washington state are consistently lower in Ukrainian and other FSU communities than any other group. Refugee sponsors and communities who provide strong support to recent arrivals from Ukraine may not be aware of key services and information which are available to support refugees and other eligible populations.
There is an urgent need to increase community awareness and knowledge of tuberculosis (TB), including the difference between TB disease and TB infection, the importance of screening, treatment options if one tests positive, the need to improve awareness of eligibility for domestic medical screenings and access to these services, and the importance and benefits of routine immunization and addressing reasons for vaccine hesitancy.
A clear, proactive, coordinated, in-language, and culturally appropriate and sensitive communications approach aimed at bringing awareness to these important health needs and building trust in preventative health measures amongst the FSU population will help protect and advance the health and safety of all communities in Washington state.
This solicitation will identify a media outreach contractor to support the development and execution of an audience-segmented media campaign addressing vaccine hesitancy in the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking populations of Washington state as well as addressing pressing health needs for recent Ukrainian refugees, including access to health resources, screenings, and TB screening, testing and treatment.
You may access and print a hard copy of the RFQQ DOH24-004C from the DOH Contracts and Procurement Website at https://www.doh.wa.gov/AboutUs/BudgetContractsandGrants/ContractsandGrants or through WEBS at https://pr-webs-vendor.des.wa.gov/.
