I got my flu vaccination. Have you gotten yours? If you haven’t, it’s not too late to prevent getting the flu. In fact, that’s the main message of National Influenza Vaccination Week, which is taking place this week, December 8-14, 2008. While flu season in the United States generally runs from October through May, people who get vaccinated in December or later can still protect themselves and others from the flu. Most of the time influenza activity peaks in January. Although the CDC has long promoted annual influenza vaccination as the single most important thing one can do to prevent catching the flu, far too many people still do not take this preventive action. Each year, on average in the United States, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications and about 36,000 people die.
So how can we more effectively spread the message and increase its impact? By combining the research-based traditional (vertical) strategies of expert-based communication, mass media messages, and state and local outreach with new media (horizontal) strategies using interactive, participatory, and peer-to-peer engagement. For the third straight year, the CDC National Center for Health Marketing is collaborating with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases on the annual Seasonal Flu Vaccination campaign. This year we are reaching out through blogs, social networks, virtual worlds, Twitter, eCards, mobile-ready Web sites, and other interactive, new media technologies to provide information and to motivate people to “Get Vaccinated.”
The products featured below are being promoted to partners and the public, but we also count on you to help promote the important message of seasonal flu vaccination. Please help us support this campaign by participating in the following activities:
CDC Get Vaccinated Graphical Button for placement on an organization’s Web site. A button is a graphic element used to promote campaigns and causes online. Buttons remind Web site users to get vaccinated. To add an English or Spanish language button to your page, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/NIVW/help.htm and follow the directions posted there.
CDC “I Got My Flu Vaccine. Have You?” Badge for social networking sites. CDC’s MySpace page will feature messages and a social networking badge for friends. To add this badge to an organization or individual’s social network site, visit CDC’s MySpace page and copy and paste the html code into your site.
Add a link to CDC’s Get Vaccinated Health-e-Cards to a Web site or blog. Available in several different designs, the e-Cards include flu vaccination messages for moms and health care providers. The flu e-Cards link to http://www.cdc.gov/flu/ for more information, and also offer a space for inserting a personal message.
Add one of the following Widgets to a Web site (all available from www.cdc.gov/widgets/)
RSS Reader. This widget will read content from CDC RSS feeds and updated CDC content, including seasonal flu. Content will be displayed in the CDC RSS widget automatically.
Flu Map. Updated weekly, the CDC flu map widget will display a current map of reported flu cases throughout the United States.
Visit http://m.cdc.gov on your Mobile Phone to access mobile-ready Web content on seasonal flu.
Follow us on Twitter (CDCFlu) for seasonal influenza messages throughout flu season.
CDC is also reaching out to partners and the public through other interactive media avenues. We are seeking partners to participate in a CDC.gov Content Syndication pilot of content from the Seasonal Flu Web site. Content syndication allows CDC to share timely and relevant content that is automatically and seamlessly updated on partners’ Web sites. The display of the content will be consistent with the partners’ look and feel of their own sites. Once code is posted, no maintenance is required.
Last week, CDC conducted two Bloginars. The bloginar for mommy bloggers addressed the importance of vaccination, vaccine safety and communication messages. The bloginar for healthcare bloggers discussed ways to encourage colleagues to get vaccinated, to respond to questions about vaccine effectiveness, and to share other clinical updates.
CDC and Whyville, a popular Virtual World for “tweens,” (children ages eight through eleven), will collaborate for a third year on an in-world activity to engage them and their grandparents in vaccination activities.
Many of these tools would not be effective without the help of our partners in public health. We would like to thank the National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC), WebMD, MayoClinic.com, HealthCentral.com, and QuantiaMD for their help in promoting the annual Seasonal Flu Vaccination campaign. As we work to use the tools of health marketing to promote flu vaccination, please join us in spreading the word. You can get more information on these efforts at nchminteractivemedia@cdc.gov.
Help spread the word, not the flu.
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Public Comments
Comments listed below are posted by individuals not associated with CDC, unless otherwise stated. These comments do not represent the official views of CDC, and CDC does not guarantee that any information posted by individuals on this blog is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. Read more about our comment policy ».
February 27, 2009 at 9:15 am ET - Justin Hess
Jay,
There is an avalanche of research and real world experience showing that not only are vaccines largely ineffective at their proposed purpose, they have tons of horrific side effects. Why not list the full ingredient panel for people to see it before they get one hmmmm?? What a ridiculous myth that just hasn’t died yet.
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AUTHOR COMMENT March 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm ET - Jay Bernhardt
The most important fact about vaccines is that they save lives. Vaccine-preventable diseases have been reduced by 99% for most diseases since vaccines were introduced. Infant vaccines protect against 14 dangerous, potentially deadly diseases that once were common place. Thanks to the effectiveness of vaccines it’s rare for us to see many of these diseases. One example is polio. Polio once paralyzed 20,000 Americans and killed 1,900 every year. Today, thanks to the polio vaccine, polio is virtually non-existent in this country. Another example is measles. Before vaccination, about 3.5 million U.S. children were infected with measles each year. Many died, suffered blindness, or encephalitis (brain infection). Measles outbreaks increased among children in 2008, demonstrating that when children aren’t vaccinated, diseases can re-emerge.
Like any medication, no vaccine is 100% safe, but most vaccine side effects are mild (such as pain or swelling at the injection site). Serious side effects, like allergic reactions, are rare. Before vaccines are licensed, they are rigorously evaluated to ensure they are safe. This process can take years. Once a vaccine is recommended and given routinely to children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continually monitors it for safety. If parents suspect an adverse reaction to a vaccine, they should report it to their child’s healthcare provider. Parents can also report any suspected vaccine adverse reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
As parents, grandparents, and doctors, we put the health and safety of children first and hold vaccines to the highest safety standards. In the event that our monitoring suggests that a vaccine is causing a serious side effect, we act quickly to confirm or rule out the role of vaccines, and if necessary take additional steps – such as changing how vaccines are used. An example of the success of our monitoring system was identifying a rare side effect (bowel blockage) caused by the first US rotavirus vaccine. We immediately stopped using the vaccine. Today, a new, safer rotavirus vaccine is used.
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March 16, 2009 at 4:59 pm ET - Dr. Steven Engen
Jay,
Was there a house fire in your city this past week? If so, did you water your house down to prevent your house from starting on fire, because house fires are catchy (contagious)? What about hosing your house down tonight, just in case your neighbor’s house might start on fire tomorrow? House fires are catchy, and a smoke alarm won’t stop the flames. Looks like the same theory applies to flu shots, in my opinion, and maybe in that of the 100 million without “flu” shots.
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AUTHOR COMMENT March 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET - Jay Bernhardt
Dr. Engen, thank you for sharing your opinion.
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