Washington: Flu Free Campaign

Strategy

The Washington State Department of Health created the Flu Free Washington campaign to close the gaps in flu vaccine coverage due to inequities, while promoting access to low- or no-cost vaccination options, with a focus on those at higher risk of complications from the flu or who work with individuals who may have complications.

Challenge

Influenza poses a high risk of complications for children, older adults, and individuals with existing health conditions, but these groups have significant gaps in flu vaccine coverage due to inequities. As a result, there was a need to improve access to vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy, due to misconceptions about vaccines, resulted in a need for new messaging aimed at building vaccine confidence by correcting misconceptions about flu vaccines and emphasizing vaccine safety and availability. In addition, there was a need to update the design and content of the Washington State Department of Health flu campaign to include more equitable language and imagery to resonate with their population and incorporate the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to reach key audiences. It was important to strengthen relationships and resources for partners and providers using partner toolkits and materials and create resources that employers could use to encourage their employees to get vaccinated.

Solution

The Washington State Department of Health launched an updated Flu Free Washington campaign, refreshing and building on the success of their previous award-winning Knock Out Flu campaign. The campaign used paid media and social media to promote flu vaccination to diverse demographics. Strategies included creating website banners, radio sponsorships, and advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, and Google search results. Advertisements ran in up to five languages, including English. The campaign also involved creating a series of social media posts in English and Spanish that promoted flu vaccination for all eligible Washingtonians with options for both insured adults and uninsured youth. These posts encouraged co-administration with other vaccines when appropriate. A partner toolkit was developed and disseminated to local health jurisdictions and members of the Health Plan Partnership were included in the campaign. The toolkit included English and Spanish sample blog posts, articles, and social media posts for partners and providers to use as a resource in their own communications. The campaign incorporated a Flu Free at Work toolkit and a Preventing Respiratory Disease in Adult Family Homes Toolkit to help employers encourage vaccination among employees. The toolkit included resources, frequently asked questions, and materials for employers to use in their own communications. The Washington State Department of Health updated its webpage for flu and flu vaccine information and resources. The campaign supported and encouraged flu vaccination, especially among populations at higher risk of complications from the flu, or who worked with individuals who were at risk for complications, and provided educational resources and tools that are easy to understand and use, culturally and linguistically appropriate, and written in plain language for individuals, community partners, and health care providers. Through this campaign, the Washington State Department of Health was able to address the unique needs of diverse communities to increase flu vaccine uptake and help communicate access and promote health equity by educating the public about the accessibility of low-cost and no-cost flu vaccine options.

The Flu Free Washington campaign involved approximately 175 to 200 staff hours. The campaign was funded by CDC grant funds. The campaign involved collaborating with local health departments, insurance providers, and community members. Regular meetings with local health departments helped the Washington State Department of Health understand community issues, questions, and/or concerns related to flu and flu vaccine. This information guided the development of the revised campaign and helped tailor messaging to reach a diverse set of Health plan partnership meetings with insurance providers and health care providers ensured that the partner toolkit addressed their needs. The campaign involved gathering data through a Market Research Online Community (MROC) survey on behaviors, opinions, and beliefs around flu vaccination, which informed the message and material development. This campaign targeted 7.7 million people living in Washington and focused on individuals at higher risk of complications from the flu, such as children, older adults, individuals with existing health conditions, and healthcare workers, or who worked with individuals who were at high risk for complications, such as healthcare providers, local health jurisdictions, and employers.

Outcome

The campaign materials were shared with over 100 local partners and the paid campaign made over 48,742,096 impressions online and lead to 35,965 clicks to FluFreeWA.org and WASinGripe.org. Resources and tools for health partners improved communication and address misinformation. They have been instrumental in maintaining Washington state’s flu vaccination rates higher than the national average. Radio spot ads were successful at reaching demographics that have typically been more difficult to reach, such as agricultural workers and Spanish speakers. Strong collaboration with health care partners and the use of community and partner input ensured that materials and messaging best addressed community health needs and concerns. The focus on individuals at higher risk of complications from the flu helped the campaign reach the people who need the information most, ultimately working towards improved health equity.

Supplemental Materials