A community-based grassroots initiative, the We Got The Shot campaign, strives to get Brampton residents vaccinated in time for Back to School.

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By Kuwarjeet Singh Arora, Contributing Editor, Bramptonist

July 21, 2021 (2 Minute Read)

The We Got The Shot campaign aims to share residents’ stories of why they have gotten vaccinated. The initiative is partnering with residents, small businesses, and members of various cultural and ethnic groups.

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Hiral Patel, an active member of the We Got The Shot Campaign said, “There are so many great stories to tell and a project like this helps me to do my part.”

The campaign is focused on creating videos with diverse groups of people and in different languages (i.e, Punjabi, Hindi, French) to reach as many Bramptonians as possible.

Gurleen Badwal, an incoming Medical Sciences student at Western University, is the youth spokesperson for the We Got The Shot Campaign. Gurleen says that she is able to comprehend scientific information surrounding the vaccine, but she understands that it can be challenging for others.

Sharing Positive Stories

The campaign hopes to highlight the good that has come from COVID-19 vaccines and encourages Brampton residents to get vaccinated.

Gurleen said, “Everyone can understand positivity, a sense of community, and being able to relate to other people who speak your language or share your family values. That is what makes this campaign so important!”

Hiral is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in history and economics from Western University. He explains, “I’m not a medical student, so for me working on a campaign like this to help Brampton get vaccinated and shine some light on the positive stories of resiliency through the pandemic in Brampton, which is such a big hot spot.”

The official website of We Got The Shot shares a video featuring Brampton residents, Allysa & Sheldon.

Sheldon, a teacher in Brampton says, “I got the shot because it’s a pandemic and during the pandemic we have to trust the professionals… I have three kids at home and my in-laws are older and I want to protect them too.”

Looking Forward to a Normal Life Again

As students, both Gurleen and Hiral are eager to return to their “normal life” and they understand that getting everyone vaccinated is a crucial step in reopening not only Brampton, but the whole country.

“We all understand our responsibility in terms of getting vaccinated to get back to our normal lives,” said Gurleen.

She explains, “ The new normal is really whatever people want it to be and for a lot of the residents getting vaccinated makes them feel safe.”

The Co-Founder of SmallBizHub, Fazal Khan, started the We Got The Shot campaign after being granted funding by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is a part of the Vaccine Community Innovation Challenge that encourages individuals and groups across Canada to help promote vaccine confidence in their communities.

We Got The Shot was one of 20 campaigns chosen from across Canada.