The Arizona Partnership for Immunizations (TAPI) is helping teens and their parents get on track with adolescent vaccines. The new vaccine awareness campaign is touting the benefits of the three vaccines needed during those critical teenage years – Tdap, Meningococcal and HPV. See all the materials at https://www.whyimmunize.org/HPV-vaccine-resources.
Teens and parents get unique communications to help them make a healthy decision about vaccination.
Take Control – The teen-focused campaign speaks to adolescents’ need to feel in control of their lives and health. It speaks to just how easy it is to stay healthy with the help of a few little shots. See the materials at https://www.whyimmunize.org/takecontrol.
Protect Me with 3 – The parent-focused campaign taps into a parent’s power to continue to protect their increasingly independent teenager. See the materials at https://www.whyimmunize.org/ProtectMewith3.
Both sets of materials share the power of disease prevention in 3 easy steps:
Tdap Vaccine – Get 1 Shot – Protects against Whooping Cough (pertussis), tetanus, and diphtheria.
Whooping Cough, sometimes called the “100 day cough” or pertussis, is easy to spread and can be especially harmful for babies and grandparents. Just 1 Tdap shot helps prevent this illness plus tetanus, also called lockjaw, which is caused by being pricked by rusty metal or contaminated soil, and diphtheria that is a serious respiratory infection.
Meningococcal – Get 2 Shots – Protects against meningitis.
2 shots of the meningitis vaccine is the best way to protect your child from 1 serious disease. Meningitis spreads quickly from person to person through sharing a water bottle or lip-gloss, coughing, kissing or sneezing. Preteens need this shot when they are 11 or 12 years and then a booster shot at age 16. If you have an older teen, it’s not too late.
HPV – Get 3 Shots – Protects against HPV.
Research has proven a link between HPV and certain types of cancer. In the US each year, there are about 17,000 women and 9,000 men affected by HPV-related cancers. There is no routine screening to detect these diseases, and that’s why this preventative vaccine is so important. Getting the HPV vaccine for your child now will protect and give them a healthy future for years to come.
It also answers the question, “Are these vaccines are safe?” Which is, of course, YES! All of these vaccines were studied in tens of thousands of people around the world. The most common side effects reported are mild. All of the vaccines are saving lives.
Results
The power of this campaign is in normalizing all three vaccines, including HPV. Instead of focusing on the HPV vaccine as an additional step, this campaign includes it in the adolescent series of vaccines just like the infant series.
“By grouping the three vaccines together, we are educating parents that all three vaccines are very important to their teen’s health. The HPV vaccine is so critical for preventing HPV-related cancers. We want parents to understand that keeping their teen protected now and into the future is as easy as 1-2-3 — 1 Tdap, 2 Meningococcal , 3 HPV shots. The Protect Me with 3 campaign focuses on that message.”
Jennifer Tinney, TAPI Program Director
The campaigns, created by communications agency BC/DC Ideas and funded by the CDC, are available in a variety of print and digital formats including flyers, reminder recall postcards and digital ad banners. Most materials are available in Spanish. There is also a set of promotional materials to inform providers about the campaign.