Don't Get the Flu. Don't Spread the Flu. Get Vaccinated.

In support of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) annual Seasonal Flu Vaccination campaign, the National Center for Health Marketing has created a variety of interactive media products to provide information and motivate people to Get Vaccinated!

A feature article, Protect against Flu, is posted on the CDC.gov home page to alert consumers about the importance of getting vaccinated again this year. The article covers basic information about the flu, who should get vaccinated, symptoms and complications, and how flu is spread.

Get Involved!

Public health partners and other organizations are asked to promote the "Don't Get the Flu. Don't Spread the Flu. Get Vaccinated." campaign message once again this year by posting the graphical button on their Web site.

Promotion is recommended starting in October, and running through the end of February 2009. This year's National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) is scheduled for December 8–14, 2008.

Help support this campaign by participating in the following activities:

• NEW! Add links to two new CDC.gov Seasonal Flu Widgets on your organizations' Web site. Widgets are small applications that display up-to-date, credible health and safety content from CDC directly on your web page, personalized home pages, blogs, and other sites. Once you've added the widget, there is no technical maintenance. CDC.gov will update the content automatically.
  • RSS Reader Widget will read content from CDC RSS feeds and updated CDC seasonal flu content that is displayed in the CDC RSS widget automatically.
  • Seasonal Flu Map Widget will display a current map of reported flu cases throughout the United States and is automatically updated weekly.
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Post a CDC Get Vaccinated graphical button on your organization's Web site. A button is a graphic element used to promote campaigns and causes online. Buttons remind your Web site users to get vaccinated. The html code below includes a link to cdc.gov/flu and metrics tracking code.

To add this button to your page, copy the html code and paste into your site:

<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/flu/?s_cid=partners15" title="Don't get the flu. Don't spread the flu. Get Vaccinated. www.cdc.gov/flu"><img style="width:180px; height:150px; border:0px;" src="http://www.cdc.gov/images/campaigns/flu/2008/flubadge3_180x150.gif" alt="Don't get the flu. Don't spread the flu. Get Vaccinated. www.cdc.gov/flu" /></a>

Additional graphic thumbnails and codes are available here.

• Add a CDC "I Got My Flu Vaccine. Have You?" badge to social networking sites. CDC's MySpace page will feature messages and social networking badges for friends. To add these badges to your organization's or individual 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. Available in several different designs, the eCards include flu vaccination messages for moms and healthcare providers. The flu eCards also offer a space for inserting a personal message and provide a link to cdc.gov/flu to learn more.
• Add a link to 1-minute video about the importance of flu vaccination: "Why Flu Vaccination Matters: Personal Stories from Families Affected by Influenza."
• Add a link to Mobile-ready CDC flu content on m.cdc.gov.

Upcoming campaign releases include:

• Podcast ads (November) Short audio and video clips to be inserted into CDC podcasts.
• Widget: Interactive Quiz (December) This widget will feature an interactive CDC quiz, titled "Is it a cold, or is it the flu?"

CDC is 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 for their own sites and, once code is posted, no maintenance is required. If you are interested in participating in the pilot, please send an e-mail to NCHMInteractiveMedia@cdc.gov, and include which content pages you would like to post on your site.

During NIVW (December 8–14, 2008), CDC will be conducting two bloginars, one with mommy bloggers to address the importance of vaccination, vaccine safety and communication messages, and one with healthcare bloggers to discuss ways to encourage colleagues to get vaccinated, to respond to questions about vaccine effectiveness, and to share other clinical updates. If you host a blog and would like to participate, please send an e-mail to NCHMInteractiveMedia@cdc.gov.

CDC and Whyville, a popular virtual world for "tweens," children aged 8–11, will collaborate for a third year on an in-world activity to engage tweens and grandparents in vaccination activities.

More Information

• Send any questions or suggestions to NCHMInteractiveMedia@cdc.gov.