Murfreesboro, TN (March 11, 2021) - Middle Tennessee State University Professor Katherine Foss is available for interviews on President Biden's plan to order 100 million more COVID-19 doses from Johnson & Johnson. 

"A one-dose vaccine is really the key to getting the larger population immunized. In particular, college students and others most likely to transmit the virus are less likely to return for a second dose," explained Foss, a health communication expert and author of Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media and Collective Memory. "The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is optimal for mass vaccination sites, moving people through quickly without needing the time to schedule a second vaccine and hoping that individuals will return."

"It's not enough to just have ample vaccine, however. We need comprehensive, pervasive public health campaigns that target specific communities and segments of the general public," she emphasized. 

"These messages need to be localized and spread across media platforms. Availability, access, persuasive messaging, and enforcement are all essential elements to increasing immunizations enough to reach herd immunity," Foss concluded.