"I got a flu shot and I still got the flu,” is the #1 reason flu vaccination rates are down year over year.
After years of preventive messaging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried a new strategy, based on a truth and a new pandemic-era understanding of vaccines: A flu vaccine tames the worst symptoms of flu if you do get sick. We created a metaphor that’s easy to understand — would you rather have flu that’s like a grizzly or a teddy bear?
After years of preventive messaging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried a new strategy, based on a truth and a new pandemic-era understanding of vaccines: A flu vaccine tames the worst symptoms of flu if you do get sick. We created a metaphor that’s easy to understand — would you rather have flu that’s like a grizzly or a teddy bear?
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The campaign really spread, with partners and even other countries amplifying
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Media Coverage
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We ran the campaign to great success for 2 flu seasons, until ... politics
"The CDC campaign is a creative and effective way of conveying an extremely important public health message about 'partial protection' vs. 'complete prevention' of disease," Marla Dalton, executive director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told NPR in an email.
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Now, NFID runs the campaign.
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More public health campaigns:
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