STEP 2: SELECT ACTIVITIES

Target Audiences: Who do you need to reach to meet your objectives?

The primary audiences for the National Infant Immunization Week campaign are:
•	parents and caregivers of children ages two or younger
•	healthcare providers

Within these broad audiences, choose priority audiences to focus on based on the objectives you set in Step 1:  Lay the Foundation. Keep in mind that you have limited resources – identify target audiences that are most likely to help you reach your objectives.

When choosing target audiences, think about various demographic characteristics (race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, age, geographic location, languages spoken) as well as other factors that might group people together, such as:

•	common behaviors (for example, mothers who participate in a faith community)
•	similar benefits or barriers to immunization (mothers who don’t have access to transportation)
•	same level of readiness to have their children immunized (first-time mothers) 

Target Behaviors: What do you want them to do?

Once you’ve determined your target audiences, think about what you want them to do in order to meet the objectives you’ve set. 

It may not always be possible through NIIW activities to directly increase immunization rates, as this may require long-term intervention at institutional and policy levels. You can, however, promote other actions that will lead to increased immunization. For example, NIIW activities might encourage parents and caregivers to:

•	Learn more about the importance of infant immunization
•	Look at a website to find a vaccination clinic near them
•	Call a hotline for more information about infant immunization and related services
•	Make an appoint with their infant’s doctor
•	Encourage their friends to immunize their children

Benefits and Barriers: What factors affect whether they can or want to do that?

It might be difficult to understand why parents would choose NOT to immunize their children to protect them from disease. Yet people have good reasons for behaving the way they do, and their choices are logical from their point of view.  They act in ways that benefit them and are unlikely to do something when barriers get in the way. Therefore, it is important to understand what benefits your target audience is looking for and what barriers get in their way – so your activities can maximize the benefits and minimize the barriers.

Before you start selecting activities, answer the following questions about your target audience:
•	What do they know about infant immunization?
•	What do they see as the benefits of doing it?
•	What would keep them from doing it?
•	Where does immunization fit into their daily lives and priorities?
•	Where do they obtain health information?
•	Who influences their health decisions?
•	What is important to them in life? What do they value most? 

Some ways to gather the information to answer these questions:

•	Review existing research studies: take advantage of information that others have already gathered.  Even if the studies were not done in your community, the information may still be useful. 
•	Conduct individual interviews or focus groups with audience members and key informants, such as health providers, church leaders, and teachers.
•	Collect information through quick surveys that can be handed out at vaccination clinics or community events.

Activities: How can you address the barriers and promote the benefits?

Use the information you’ve gathered to select activities that work together to:
•	Make a clear call to action
•	Address all key factors
•	Minimize barriers
•	Fit your budget and staff resources

It’s also important to take stock of factors that may impact your efforts – both positively and negatively, such as:
•	Recent media coverage about infant immunization
•	Issues related to vaccine supply or funding that could impact your effort
•	Other organizations promoting immunization that you might partner with
•	Competing messages in the media or community (for example, anti-vaccine groups) 

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Level I:  Getting Started
The following activities require minimal amounts of time and resources.
•	Ask newspapers and newsletters to publish public service print ads, articles, or editorials.  (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Write a news release, opinion-editorial piece, or letter to the editor.  (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Ask employers and businesses to include an immunization educational message with their payroll or billing notice (especially for utility company, bank, and credit card statements).
•	Ask religious leaders to include messages about childhood immunization and disease prevention in their sermons, prayers and bulletin.
•	Ask Hispanic faith leaders and the Interfaith Alliance to announce National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas in their bulletins and newsletters. Also ask them to include immunization materials or print ads in their newsletters and bulletins or to distribute brochures during services and other events. (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Ask worship sites to provide fact sheets and coupons for free or reduced-cost immunizations through their bulletins, newsletters and at their nursery. 
•	Work with a local fast-food restaurant or chain to heighten awareness by printing immunization messages on tray place mats and window banners. The restaurant could offer food discounts with proof of immunization. 
•	Ask large companies to pay for placement of radio or newspaper ads about your program. (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Ask advertisers to include immunization print ads or reproducible art in their ads in local newspapers. (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Ask local businesses to print and distribute immunization materials including “stuffers” in local coupon packets (offer a credit line on the materials acknowledging their donation).
•	Provide immunization brochures for distribution at baby product stores and health clinics. 
•	Establish an immunization education center in your office, at a local library, major worksites, or other walk-in locations.
•	Ask unions to distribute immunization materials to their members who are parents or caregivers.
•	Ask merchants to display posters and tent cards, use bag stuffers for customers, include an immunization message on store receipts, or make loudspeaker announcements. 
•	Prepare scoreboards or loudspeaker announcements for sports events, rodeos, concerts, or bingo games.
•	Ask elementary and secondary school clubs or art classes to design and construct banners or portable exhibits for use at community events.
•	Send letters about your plans to the editors of state medical journals, other professional journals, and local newspapers.
•	Hold a breakfast for employers, religious leaders, or media representatives, and ask them to get involved with your activities.
•	Prepare and distribute newsletter articles for employers, neighborhood associations, utility companies, or other organizations with newsletters.
•	Ask to speak at an organization’s event such as an Interfaith Alliance meeting about the importance of infant immunizations.

Level II:  Enhancing Your Program
The following activities demand a little more effort from volunteers and staff, and possibly more funding, than activities in Level I.

•	Ask producers of radio call-in shows and television public affairs shows to feature immunization activities; offer to provide background information on immunizations, sample questions and answers, and someone (i.e., pediatrician, heath department official, or nurse) to interview.
•	Arrange for a pediatrician or someone who represents your program to appear on a television or radio talk show.
•	Ask retailers, banks, or other merchants to sponsor an immunization event or seminar and to distribute educational information as a public service to their customers.
•	Solicit local worship sites to ask their members with small children to bring in their immunization records. Recruit and train volunteers to check the immunization records and refer children to providers if needed.
•	Ask shopping mall management to sponsor a health fair, make room for an exhibit, or provide space for a “questions and answers about immunization” table or booth.
•	Hold an immunization poster contest for students and offer donated prizes. Exhibit poster entries in a mall, community center, library, local bus station, or other public place frequented by your priority population.
•	Ask a local toy store to provide educational materials during National Infant Immunization Week and discounts with proof of immunization. 
•	Create a resource kit on vaccine-preventable diseases and distribute at community events. Work with merchants to promote special gifts related to immunization for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, and other special days or weeks. 
•	Ask local shoe stores to disseminate immunization information during back-to-School promotions. The store could also place banners in their windows, include supplements in their advertisements, and offer discounts with proof of immunization. Offer the stores public recognition for their participation.  Visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for print ready banners.
•	Ask employers to establish incentives for employees who are parents and caregivers to have their children vaccinated.
•	Acknowledge the coalition’s partners at a special luncheon.
•	Hand out promotional items, such as coffee mugs, buttons, or T-shirts with the NIIW theme and logo to your volunteers to wear at special events, to offer for sale at events, and to give to contributors as a “thank you.” Visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download the NIIW logo.
•	Imprint balloons with the immunization message and logo to mark the spot at special events. Visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download campaign logos.
•	Talk with transportation companies about placing print ads with your immunization message in buses and cabs. Alternatively, cab drivers could pass out cards with the immunization message to their passengers. (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Imprint theme cups for sports events and health fairs, and shopping bags for supermarkets and pharmacies.  Ask a radio station to do a live broadcast from your event, and have parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers interviewed about immunization.
•	Ask a radio station to participate on a day during National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas or another special day by broadcasting, hourly, an immunization message; provide broadcasters with live announcer copy or use one of the professionally produced NIIW radio PSAs.  (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Work with billboard and transit companies to seek public service space where it is most likely to reach your audience.
•	Develop a speakers’ program and offer presentations to community hospitals, churches, libraries, recreation centers, club meetings, and worksite brown bag lunches; identify speakers (e.g., healthcare providers, people affected by disease due to lack of immunization, media spokespersons) and provide them with a prepared speech or talking points.
•	Distribute materials to social service agencies that serve children such as foster homes, refugee centers, homeless shelters, and family daycare centers.
•	Adapt these resources and create and immunization informational package to disseminate to local organizations.

Level III:  Broadening Your Scope
The following activities require more organization, planning, staff, and resources than those in the previous levels. Some of these activities may serve to sustain long-term, high immunization rates in your community. 
•	During the week preceding National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) and Vaccination Week in the Americas, have your Governor, First Lady, and coalition members kick off the week with a press conference and proclamation for NIIW-VWA. Visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for a sample proclamation.
•	Issue a news release and/or op-ed piece to kick off National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) and Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA). Include information about county immunization rates, local events, and clinic hours.  (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw for English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, sample op-ed articles, etc.)
•	Put posters or announcements on bulletin boards or in windows of laundromats, fast-food restaurants, or grocery stores used by community members.
•	Print information in a community or resident newsletter. People often read newsletters more attentively and regularly than they read a regional newspaper. 
•	Contact local television stations and ask them to run public service announcements (PSAs) on immunization. In many communities, parents and caregivers who stay at home prefer television to other media. (Note:  Please visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw to download English and Spanish-language NIIW campaign materials including print ads, radio PSAs, etc.)
•	Offer limited time only coupons for free or reduced-cost vaccinations for parents and caregivers with limited or no health insurance or with demonstrated financial need. The coupons could be distributed through pharmacies, health centers, grocery stores, or places of worship.
•	Time public service announcements (PSAs) to coincide with National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas or a special community event attracting parents and caregivers of small children and provide staff to operate an immunization information booth at the activity.
•	Assemble a gift package (including coupons and samples from local merchants) for parents and caregivers who bring their children to health clinics for immunizations. 
•	Keep a list of people who visit an exhibit or booth, and send follow-up cards to remind them that they should get their child immunized before the age of two. 
•	Recruit local housing authorities to allow volunteers to conduct a door-to- door educational campaign. A mobile unit could be brought on site to provide immediate service. 
•	Publish a periodic child health newsletter to highlight medical facts, community news and events, and suggestions for ways to get involved in your program.
•	Partner with local elementary schools to ask older children to take the immunization message home to parents and caregivers of children by sponsoring a poster contest. Suggest using the theme for NIIW.   Invite special guests to an event announcing the poster winners. Use the first-place poster for your next immunization campaign. 
•	Ask a local college health education, marketing, or communications department or a public relations firm to design and conduct a community survey about immunization awareness. Publicize the results.
•	Ask local churches to allow local community health providers to deliver immunization services at the church. A mobile unit could be brought on site during National Infant Immunization Week.
•	Set up a program for individuals who need transportation to health clinics or doctors’ offices.
•	Hold an open house for community groups to join the effort to immunize children and prevent disease. Invite a guest celebrity. Give out awards to deserving individuals and organizations.
•	Distribute the NIIW immunization tag line and campaign logo to major businesses to include in their print and television advertising during National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas. Issue a press release summarizing all the businesses and organizations that are helping to get the word out about infant immunization.
•	Encourage members of Congress and state legislators to visit programs geared toward the needs of lower socioeconomic groups and bring publicity to the immunization issue.
•	Send a letter to your Governor requesting that s/he ask county officials, mayors, and city council members for their active involvement in the immunization issue.
•	Organize a press event with local officials to highlight local immunization rates, issue a challenge to residents to raise these rates, inform the public of local National Infant Immunization Week events and that NIIW is being held in conjunction with Vaccination Week in the Americas and encompasses 45 countries in the Western Hemisphere.  Thank coalition members and clinic staff for their hard work.

Level IV:  Focusing on Healthcare Providers
These activities are geared toward healthcare providers. Some of these activities require modest efforts and others require more planning and organization.
•	Encourage healthcare providers to remind parents/caregivers that vaccinations are due. Healthcare providers could call directly or use reminder cards to get children up-to-date on their immunizations.
•	Hold special events and open houses at local hospitals, clinics, or WIC sites. Arrange for county health department personnel and service group representatives to speak on local talk shows.
•	Organize phone banks to educate providers and bring media attention to the issue. Ask unions or businesses to donate space and phones.
•	Ask hospitals to include your program information in continuing medical education programs.
•	Ask healthcare providers to record and play an immunization message to callers who are put on hold.
•	Develop in-service training seminars at medical, health, and social service agencies on keeping records and communicating with parents and caregivers about immunization.
•	Develop note pads and buttons with the NIIW theme and logo for nurses and providers to help remind them to discuss child immunization with parents and caregivers.
•	Ask local hospitals to provide new parents/caregivers with information and services to immunize their new baby.
•	Recruit Medicaid managed-care organizations and ask them to educate their providers on the importance of communicating with parents and caregivers about infant immunization.
•	Ask your managed care organization to cosponsor a press conference demonstrating its support of your immunization effort and to raise awareness about the problem of missed opportunities.
•	Co-host an Appreciation Day for healthcare providers. Distribute coffee mugs with your campaign logo as a thank you gift.
•	Organize a provider education and appreciation luncheon to inform providers about missed opportunities, the Standards for Pediatric Immunization Practices, and contraindications to vaccination.