Maybe the White House knows this better than a newspaper editor, but the rally in Raleigh seems largely ineffective in trying to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19.

Yes, North Carolina lags behind other states, but the problem isn’t Raleigh, which is in one of the most vaccinated counties in the state. About 54% of Americans are fully vaccinated – a number dramatically increased by the highly vaccinated states in the northeast and west. Meanwhile, Wake County, where Raleigh is located, is 58% fully vaccinated. The state average is 42%.

Places like Rowan County still fall in the low to mid 30% range for full immunizations. In eastern counties like Onslow and Hoke, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports that only 21% and 20% of people are fully vaccinated. These are counties where extra attention is needed, not those where most residents are liberal, have a college degree, and are more likely to actively seek out COVID-19 vaccines.

It was good that Biden spoke at the Green Road Community Center in Raleigh, where the vaccination rate is below average. It’s also in an area that scores high on the state’s Social Vulnerability Index, which measures things like residents are fluent in English and have a vehicle.

But the News & Observer reported that the few hundred people in attendance were mostly volunteers and frontline workers from nonprofit organizations that administer vaccines in the Triangle. Biden was talking to people who might agree with his post, and he knows it. The Associated Press reported that Biden said he “preached to the choir.”

If the country ever hopes to vaccinate a large enough part of its population to stop COVID-19, advocacy must be directed to people who are not inclined to do so, procrastinators and those who still have questions.

To do the most good, public and health authorities should look for census tracts with low immunization rates in counties that are also relatively unvaccinated. The West End of Salisbury is one of those places. It is located in a census tract with low vaccination rates and a county with low vaccination rates.

A presidential visit is unlikely to work in a county like Rowan or a number of other heavily Republican counties. People unwilling to get vaccinated will not attend a large indoor rally about vaccinations. For the safety of participants, it is probably best that they do not, but there are many other ways to evolve the vaccination strategy into more useful initiatives.

Communication options in the 21st century are good, but it can’t be the only method. People will scroll through ads on Facebook, other social media platforms and websites. TV ads will only reach people who have subscriptions and watch a channel at the right time. Planning immunization events is only useful if people walk through the doors of these events, and health officials have fundamentally given up on holding public events.

To be successful, the state’s vaccination campaign must take an approach similar to a hotly contested political contest – with door-to-door sales, canvassing and phone calls. Get permission from Food Lion, Walmart, and high traffic areas to set up tables at the entrance. Those doing the advocacy will have to engage in uncomfortable conversations with people who might give them shivers. It will be funny for anti-vaccines. If public health workers do it correctly, people could be annoyed by the extent to which they are educated about the importance of getting the vaccine. But we are trying to stop a global pandemic which was the third leading cause of death last year. Successful political campaigns don’t stop after a few months.

An update last week to North Carolina’s COVID-19 County Alert System showed what is possible in counties with low vaccination rates. Bladen is now the only county in the state to experience critical viral spread. With a vaccination rate of just 33% – close enough to Rowan County – the number of cases and hospitalizations is increasing.

For comparison, Rowan County in the previous two weeks saw 81 cases per 100,000 and 3.9% of tests came back positive. Bladen County, meanwhile, has recorded 241 cases per 100,000 and a positive rate of 11.7%. Sadly, fatalities are likely to follow in Bladen County.

Let’s work to prevent the same thing from happening across the state.

Josh Bergeron is editor of the Salisbury Post.