Columbia Schools, Health Officials to Take Aim at Vaping

The Columbia school district and health officials in the area are getting ready to kick off an anti-vaping campaign as concerns about the devices grow.

The Columbia Missourian reports that the campaign, called “Stand up for Your Own Health,” is targeted at 13- to 21-year-olds. It will include flyers, social media posts and radio ads on online platforms such as Spotify.

Sarah Varvaro is an educator with the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department. She says, “Some people still have the mentality that it is safe and it’s just water vapor.”

But she says hospitalizations and deaths from an outbreak of a lung disease linked to vaping are “eye-opening.” She adds “these things are not safe for anybody to be using.” Funding is coming from a county grant.