Back in 2021, the family of the late Leonard Nimoy teamed up with the Los Angeles-based L.A .Care for a Star Trek-themed “Live Long And Prosper” campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccinations. Now LeVar Burton is joining in for the latest campaign promoting boosters.
Spock and Geordi team up for L.A. campaign
L.A. Care, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country, is again looking to Star Trek to help promote public health. With COVID-19 cases rising again, they feel it is time to remind people that vaccines are the best way to keep families and communities healthy. So they are launching a new outdoor and social media campaign tied to Star Trek. With the cooperation of Paramount, this new campaign features LeVar Burton as Geordi from Star Trek: The Next Generation alongside Spock from Star Trek: The Orignal Series. Together their message is simple, “Get Vaxxed. Get Boosted… Be there for the next generation.”
L.A. Care sees the new campaign as the “perfect way to amplify the message in communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.” The billboards in this renewed campaign will initially go up in three Inglewood neighborhoods and in the San Fernando Valley.
An L.A. Care billboard with Spock and Geordi
“COVID-19 put a spotlight on health inequity in this country, with communities of color suffering more cases and deaths,” said John Baackes, L.A. Care CEO. “Star Trek was always about diversity and advocating for social justice and equality. L.A. Care is honored to share our commitment to equity and inclusion with two figures who were part of that historic series.”
Leonard Nimoy was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2013, and he dedicated the last two years of his life to raising awareness about the progressive lung disease. His family sees this campaign as an extension of that effort.
“I have no doubt that my father would have been an outspoken proponent of vaccinations during the COVID-19 crisis, which has seen so many suffer lung damage,” said Julie Nimoy, who also runs The Nimoy-Knight Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, with her husband David Knight. “We are proud to work with L.A. Care on this important campaign, and with LeVar joining us, we know we will capture even more attention to ensure the message is seen.”
A billboard from the 2021 campaign
For more, visit LACare.org.
It’s always nice to see Star Trek stars using their fame for good causes!
I’m all for vaccines, but at this stage is that really going to change anyone’s mind?
Well, not trying to persuade people to change their minds is an even surer way for nothing to change. We have to try.
This is great!
They might also consider targeting states like Texas and Florida where there’s a much higher percentage of unvaccinated people than California. I live in SoCal and I’ve got my max allowed number shots to date and so does nearly everyone I know here, including my friends and work associates of color.
Good luck with changing people’s minds in TX and FL. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try though, anything’s possible. It’s not like, say, a football team coming back from a 27 point deficit to win 31-30… Now THAT would be impossible, right? :)
Don’t worry, there’s always next year…
Ugh, that hurts…lol
Probably a lost cause in Texas and Florida.
There’s no such thing as a lost cause when it comes to public health. As with education and science, it’s an ongoing fight against ignorance, always. And if you think there are those of us not fighting that good fight within these red states, you got it wrong, friend.
I wish I was Levar Burton! Warp speed! Don’t rainbow read me!
I got Covid for the first time Christmas morning and have never been that sick in my life – over three weeks later, I’m still only at about 60%
I was fully vaxxed and boosted. I suspect that I would have been a lot sicker without the vaccines.
So this is good.
Here’s another thing Star Trek teaches you: ask a lot of questions and think critically.
Have an excellent day!
And as the ferengi say: “Once you have their money… you never give it back.”
I’m all about vaccines but they don’t stop spread. I take them for me and me alone at this point, and the masked billboards are cringe as F. That isn’t prospering AT ALL
I agree with you, but it’s not saying stop the spread, it’s saying “Be there for the Next Generation” as in get it and stay alive. No one will make up their mind on a Star Trek billboard though :D
YEA! Inject an experimental MNRA modifier into your veins!
THANK YOU. NO!
I think they called it the Eugenics War?
You peeps should realize that EVERYthing Star Trek comes true.
A sad day for Trek.