The Unique Challenges Faced by Indigenous Communities During the Pandemic

While state-sponsored health campaigns to encourage vaccination during the pandemic focused on simplified, abstract images which, at times, felt lifeless, in Minnesota, the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) chose a different path. Using funds allocated through the Minnesota Department of Health, AICHO coordinated more than a dozen indigenous artists, photographers, and designers in its campaign for vaccination. The messages were engaging; they were ubiquitous because they were scalable (from stickers distributed to children to billboards visible from the highway), and most importantly, they connected the act of vaccination with an array of traditions and values. Vaccination was seen as coherent with respect for elders, with support for the community, and with the resilience necessary to survive and thrive in a settler colonial context. This paper includes images of the campaign reproduced with permission from AICHO.