Choose You Over the Flu Laura Scott, Executive Director, Families Fighting Flu National Conference on Immunization and Health Coalitions May 24, 2012

Who We Are A nonprofit, volunteer-based advocacy organization dedicated to educating people about the severity of influenza and protecting the lives of children Members include families whose children have suffered serious medical complications or died from influenza, as well as health care practitioners and advocates committed to flu prevention  FFF is the only national nonprofit devoted solely to protecting public health through preventing influenza

To protect all children against influenza and save lives Mission To protect all children against influenza and save lives Vision That all families understand the seriousness of influenza and the importance of annual vaccination, and as a result all children get vaccinated every year so that no child dies from this vaccine-preventable disease.

How We Came Together

Original Goal of FFF To urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to change the influenza vaccination recommendations to include ALL children 6 months through 18 years.

Timeline of Activities 2004: Families Fighting Flu was founded 2005: Became a 501(c)3 charity 2006: CDC expanded flu vaccination recommendations up to 59 months 2008: CDC expanded flu vaccination recommendations through18 years 2010: CDC voted for universal influenza vaccination recommendation

What Does Universal Recommendation Mean? Everyone 6 months of age and older needs to get vaccinated against the flu every year! That means babies, toddlers, school-aged kids, teenagers, adults, health care providers, etc.

Next Goal Reduce the number of childhood hospitalizations and deaths caused by influenza each year by raising awareness of the risks of influenza and increasing annual vaccination rates.

How Does Influenza Impact Kids? Anyone can get influenza, but rates of infection are highest among school-aged children 2010-2011 influenza season claimed the lives of 122 children, many of whom were previously healthy During bad flu seasons, about 30 percent of school-aged children get sick. Even though vaccinations help cut down on flu-related missed school days by 47 to 56 percent, not enough children are vaccinated annually. As a result, children sick with the flu miss about 38 million school days every year.

Why is Influenza Vaccination so Important? Influenza is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in the U.S. 5-20% of Americans are infected with influenza annually 3,300 to 49,000 deaths each year, depending on the severity of the circulating viruses Approximately 100 children die annually from influenza 200,000 hospitalizations every year, including more than 20,000 children Even healthy people can get very sick from influenza, develop serious complications and infect others Vaccination is safe; it is the most effective preventive health action with benefits for all populations

2011 Influenza Vaccination Rates

Teenagers Are Unlikely to Receive Flu Vaccines. Why? They feel invincible They don’t care about flu (and don’t understand it) Those who are affected by illness are sometimes perceived to have a weakened immune system or condition that puts the child at higher risk

Yet, one of their biggest fears is… The fear of missing out!

Our Strategic Approach What Did We Do Differently? Created an ownable PSA campaign that appeals to teens and parents We stopped focusing on death and changed our messaging to focus on hospitalizations Leveraged survivor story and underscored “fear of missing out” message to create broader appeal to teens and parents Highlighted the importance of influenza vaccination among adolescents through personal testimonial from survivor, Luke Duvall and his family Research shows that fear of influenza hospitalization trumps fear of death; perceived as more realistic for their child

Call-To-Action Core Message Supportive Messages Get vaccinated for influenza every year Supportive Messages Heighten awareness Make vaccination finding convenient – promote vaccination clinic locator FFF as a resource for all things influenza Debunk myths/provide facts When flu actually peaks/not too late to get vaccinated

It’s Time to Make Them Care

TV Public Service Announcement 4,300+ airings of PSA to date 44 million audience reach Airings 400% above celebrity PSA Approximately 10% of airings in national or top 20 broadcast markets IAC included in newsletter to vaccine stakeholders Campaign presented to the NIVS 11,000+ views of multimedia news release (MNR) Approximately 70% watched PSA in entirety and spent 3+ minutes on site Release posted 170+ websites

Additional Visibility 21 interviews conducted 5 interviews with national outlets 52% of interviews were live 169 broadcast airings 33 airings in top 20 markets Total audience reach: 35.8 million Updated MNR included NIVW message from the Duvalls Bolstered MNR views by an additional 9,000 (total 21,000) Release posted 230 websites

Marketing Activities Microsite Google AdWords Facebook Tripled the click-through rate from one year ago 73,000 click-throughs and 3,400,000 impressions during current flu season Facebook 12,400+ clicked on Facebook ads 2,200 new ‘Likes’ of FFF Facebook page

Families Fighting Flu Resources Find us online www.familiesfightingflu.org “Like” us on www.facebook.com/familiesfightingflu Follow us on www.twitter.com/famfightflu

Contact Us Laura Scott Executive Director 703-533-7313 lscott@familiesfightingflu.org 4201 Wilson Blvd., #110-702 Arlington, VA 22203

Thank You!