NIAM 2023

National Immunization Awareness Month is the month of August, giving organizations and coalitions the opportunity to work together to grab the public attention on immunizations. This page serves as a convenient guide to posting on social media throughout the month.

Below you will find a series of post templates, organized by week, along with other tips for social media engagement. CDC’s NIAM materials can also be found here.

Directions for graphics:

To get access to each asset, click on the links for the size you would like. The link will ask you if you would like to make a copy. Yes. Yes, you would like to make your own copy so that you can customize the colors, photos, and logos to match your brand.

Once you have customized your asset, find your options for downloading it under Google’s FILE tab. Download your asset as either a PNG or JPEG.

You can also find these directions in visual form by clicking the button below.

Highlight three of your favorite pro-vaccine accounts using this graphic template. Be sure to tag them.

Caption: Next week kicks off National Immunization Awareness Month. Here are three accounts in our #ImmunityCommunity we know we can count on for good info.

Announce NIAM with this post template, and tag two other coalitions in your post. Comment on and/or share any posts that tag you!

Caption: It’s National Immunization Awareness Month! We’ve been talking about vaccines for a long time, but now it’s more important than ever. Let’s work together to keep diseases like measles and mumps out of mind.

#ImmunityCommunity

Post one of several graphics highlighting your “favorite” vaccine.

Vaccine-specific captions included in the slide notes for convenience.

Caption 1: Diseases we do not remember can cause more harm than we know. Read this story about the havoc measles can cause.

#ImmunityCommunity @Voices4Vaccines https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/before-they-were-preventable/

Caption 2: You don’t know how important prevention is until you stop doing it. Stories like this remind us to not let vaccines be the victim of their own success.

#ImmunityCommunity @FamFightFlu https://www.familiesfightingflu.org/family-story/the-allen-family/

Caption 4: Dealing with a diagnosis like cancer is hard enough for a child. We don’t have to add the risk of a preventable disease to their plate.

Create a WhyIVax post using our template. Ask your followers why they vaccinate.

Example Caption: I vaccinate because I deal with a challenging medical condition, and want to protect my health as best I can.

#WhyIVax #ImmunityCommunity

Share our graphic about community immunity for measles. Ask your followers what they remember about recent outbreaks.

Caption: 1% may seem small to you and me. But if the MMR vaccination rate drops just a few points below 95%, measles can find a way to spread through a community.

If your state’s rate is below 95%:

The good news is we only have a little way to go until our state is adequately protected. #ImmunityCommunity

If your state’s rate is above 95%:

Almost all of us vaccinate, but we each have to play an active part to keep it that way. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption: The US saw nearly 3000 reported measles cases in the last 10 years.

If you had an outbreak, give a story from your state:

[Your state] had an outbreak in a middle school just before the pandemic.

If you did not have an outbreak:

[State] is one of the few states that did avoid an outbreak.

Share this graphic about making sure you’re up to date.

Caption 1: Vaccines prevent A LOT of diseases. The time to find out whether you’re protected against all of them is before you’re exposed to one.

That’s as easy as calling your doctor’s office. You don’t have to assume you’re immune. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption 2: Pop Quiz: Can you name every vaccine you’ve received since birth? … 🦗

If not, that’s okay! You can easily check if you missed one by calling your doctor’s office. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption 1: Tens of thousands of people get cancer from HPV every year. That impact extends out to the countless others who know and care about them. It’s a huge deal.

But for the next generation it’s almost all preventable with a vaccine. #ImmunityCommunity @Cervivor https://cervivor.org/stories/kellie/

Caption 2: Jason was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer at age 44, caused by a virus he likely got as a teenager.

Caption 1: Rotavirus vaccines have prevented substantial suffering in the US and around the world. They’re a huge step forward in combating a major cause of child mortality.

#ImmunityCommunity @historyvaccines https://historyofvaccines.org/diseases/rotavirus

Caption 2: Rotavirus can be a serious infection and, in many places throughout the world, a potentially fatal one.

That’s a disease worth vaccinating against, even if the children’s hospital has your back. @Voices4Vaccines #ImmunityCommunity https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/geography-and-protection/

Caption 3: Before the vaccine, rotavirus accounted for up to 50% of hospitalizations for gastroenteritis in young kids.

Is your toddler missing this vaccine? Get protected! @ChildrensPhila #ImmunityCommunity https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-details/rotavirus-vaccine

Share this graphic about how vaccines are part of a healthy lifestyle. If you have an example of someone who is an athlete who vaccinates, feel free to include it!

Caption: Healthy choices go together. You don’t need sleep OR physical activity. You need both!

The same is true for vaccination. It fits right in with a healthy lifestyle, and it’s one of the easiest choices you can make. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption 1: Kimberly was a healthy high school senior until meningococcal serogroup B caught up with her.

There wasn’t a vaccine available for Kimberly, but there is one now for your kids #ImmunityCommunity @KimCFoundation https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/losing-a-child-unless-you-lived-it-you-dont-know-what-its-like/

Caption 2: Emily was a smart, capable, and healthy college student. Meningitis B took her from her family in just 36 hours.

Today, vaccines can protect kids from Meningococcal Serogroup B @M_R_F #ImmunityCommunity @MenBAction https://www.foreveremily.org/about-emily

Caption 3: Andy Marso survived meningococcal meningitis, but he also went through four months of rehabilitation and amputations.

His advice carries a lot of weight: get your kids vaccinated. @PainterSam #ImmunityCommunity @andymarso https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/immunize/basics/stories/ginny.html

Share this graphic on media literacy and false balance.

Caption 1: Becoming media literate means recognizing when you’re being misled. Your health is too valuable for the attention economy.

#ImmunityCommunity

Caption 2: You can find an argument about anything on the internet. But no number of online comments amounts to medical science.

Your health is too real for false balance. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption 1: More Americans are living with HepB than live in some entire US states. The CDC guidelines for who should get a Hepatitis B vaccine have changed.

Are you eligible? #ImmunityCommunity @HepatitisBFoundation https://www.hepb.org/news-and-events/news-2/many-more-u-s-adults-to-get-vaccinated-against-hepatitis-b-following-move-by-u-s-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-cdc/

Caption 2: Shaibu and his brother were diagnosed with hepatitis B in high school. Shaibu survived but lost his sibling to liver cancer.

Today he advocates to ensure no one else suffers from this vaccine-preventable disease. @GlobalHep #ImmunityCommunity https://www.globalhep.org/hepequity-blog-meet-shaibu-issa

Caption 3: One of the clearest examples of vaccine inequity is that only 10% of infants in Africa get a HepB vaccine.

Despite this vaccine having a more than 40-year track record and costing only cents per dose. @TFGH #ImmunityCommunity https://www.taskforce.org/blog-global-health-experts-say-act-now-on-equity-this-u-s-national-immunization-awareness-month/

Share this graphic about how low-risk people should still get vaxxed.

Caption: When we say someone is ‘vulnerable’ to disease, we don’t mean everyone else is invulnerable. It can still affect you.

Lowering your risk by vaccinating is a good thing, even if you don’t feel at-risk. #ImmunityCommunity

Share one of our videos on what kids think about VPDs. Tag a pediatrician you know, or one listed below.

Caption 1: Kids deserve to be healthy. RSV is an infection virtually all of them will get, so they deserve the best protection against it. That’s why we’re hoping for a vaccine 🤞 #ImmunityCommunity @DrHillaryMD https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/our-worst-nights-fighting-rsv/

Caption 2: Life would be better if babies didn’t have to spend days in the hospital, and parents didn’t have to worry their way through it. We’re hopeful for an RSV vaccine to help them breathe easy.

@NFIDVaccines #ImmunityCommunity https://www.nfid.org/resource/crystals-story-rsv/

Caption 3: This past RSV season showed exactly why we need a vaccine. Too many parents remember packed children’s hospitals. It’s an experience worth avoiding for both parent & child. @Voices4Vaccines #ImmunityCommunity https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/i-wont-forget-rsv-season/

Share this graphic highlighting the COVID vaccine for kids. Tag one of the pediatricians listed below.

Caption: The COVID vaccine is on the routine schedule. Millions of kids are born every year without immunity.

They’ll never have to experience that part of 2020 if we choose to vaccinate in 2023. #ImmunityCommunity

Share this graphic contrasting VPDs ‘then’ and now.

Caption 1: Measles doesn’t want you to see this chart. Probably. We couldn’t find him to ask.

#ImmunityCommunity

Caption 2: Vaccines make charts look like this. A lot.

Doctors who treated these diseases will tell you just how incredible the difference was. Today we have an easy choice. #ImmunityCommunity

Caption 1: Invasive pneumococcal disease in kids dropped by 93% after the vaccine was introduced. Countless children now get to grow up without this severe infection.

Just one of many reasons why we vaccinate. #ImmunityCommunity @MeningitisNow https://www.meningitisnow.org/support-us/news-centre/meningitis-stories/natalias-story/

Caption 2: Pneumococcal disease can lead to some harsh infections. Mark was young & healthy healthy so he didn’t expect pneumonia to require surgery near his heart.

Mark got his vaccine after recovering. You should get it before. @NFIDVaccines #ImmunityCommunity https://www.nfid.org/resource/marks-story-pneumonia/

Caption 3: A boy born premature was 19 when the pneumococcal vaccine was first offered: “Can you imagine what this sounded like after suffering through pneumonia multiple times each year, certain I’d eventually die from it?”

@Voices4Vaccines #ImmunityCommunity https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/what-the-pneumonia-vaccine-gave-me/

Share this graphic spotlighting a “vaccine champion” of your choosing. Be sure to tag them. Bonus points if they’ll be at NCICP 2023!

Example Caption: This NIAM, we are so grateful for the work of @19joho! Dr. Howard is a neurologist from New York who has worked tirelessly to educate parents about COVID vaccination. He writes very helpful articles debunking popular myths.

Thank you for everything you do. #ImmunityCommunity

Share this graphic showing how vaccines help keep kids in school.

Example Caption: Kids should be in school. That’s why we support preventing the many diseases that used to take them out of it.

You can help keep students on track by keeping them healthy. #ImmunityCommunity

Say thanks to your followers, and share one of your favorite posts from #ImmunityCommunity over the past month.