1. Nudging parents to vaccinate their children
A look at current digital strategies
Jared M. Shinabery
MPH Candidate
Tufts University School of Medicine

2. Nudging parents to vaccinate their children
Three campaigns:
Voices for Vaccines
Sounds of Pertussis
Immunize for Good
One common goal:
To educate parents on the safety and importance of vaccinating their children, and to urge them to make the right choice.

3. Voices for Vaccines Mission:
“Voices for Vaccines is a parent-led organization that supports and advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine- preventable disease.”
They seek to provide families with three tools:
“Evidence-based information about the safety and importance of immunization”
“A vibrant community of parents who are passionate about preventing disease, disability, and death by supporting and encouraging sound vaccine policies and practices at both the state and national levels”
“An opportunity to join the discussion and to actively advocate for on-time immunization”
Target Audience:
Primary: Parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children
Secondary: Parents who already recognize the importance of immunization, and policy makers.

4.
My overall impression is that their website is pretty good. It’s a clean design, it’s easy to navigate.

5.
This page is really the crux of their website. It’s a collection of moving stories from parents explaining why they chose to vaccinate. Many of them used to be hesitant. Some had a child infected by a vaccine-preventable disease.

6. Voices for Vaccines’ digital strategy
Vaccine information page with easy-to-digest explanations
Organized by disease or age
Stories from parents who vaccinate
Organized by categories
Parents can easily join the cause; submit their own stories
Social media:
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
They’re really trying to create a significant online presence of parents advocating for immunization, with the goal of influencing those hesitant parents.

7. Voices for Vaccines SWOT Analysis
Mixed targeting
Clean design
Easy to navigate
Digestible information
Can share your story
Very active social media
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Integration of Facebook and Twitter on their website
Blog
Vast amounts of misinformation on the web
Emotionally charged issue
Anti-vaxxers can overrun social media
Social media: They post daily, and create lots of meme-style images regarding current events surrounding vaccination. For instance, right now they are focusing on Jenny McCarthy (anti-vax spokesperson) as candidate for ABC’s The View. Also, the stories submitted to their website get linked on Facebook, so they can easily be shared, thereby reaching a larger audience.
Mixed targeting. The website copy is clearly targeting parents who already recognize the importance of vaccination, which makes me question the purpose of the story section. Parents who vaccinate telling their stories to parents who vaccinate?
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS

8. Voices for Vaccines Recommendations
Integrate Facebook and Twitter feeds on the website
This will help draw people to the social media sites and could subsequently increase participation.
Start a blog
The blog could be a place for more in-depth discussions of vaccination issues, which inappropriate on Facebook and Twitter.
Incorporate site badges
Site badges are essentially small advertisement banners that others can put on their websites to link back to yours. They could increase Voices for Vaccinations’ online presence.

9. Sounds of Pertussis
A collaborative effort by Sanofi Pasteur and March of Dimes
Mission:
“dedicated to educating new parents and their families about pertussis and the importance of an adult booster vaccine.”
“to help protect babies by making sure that anyone who is, or will be, in close contact with a young infant has been vaccinated against pertussis.”
Target Audience:
New and expectant parents who are vaccine-hesitant

10.
This website is very unconventional. It doesn’t have a tradition navigation bar. Instead, the screen slides from left to right. There’s a lot of movement, as well as little text boxes, images, and videos scattered everywhere.

11.
The text boxes expand overtop the other boxes and provide a little bit more information. This is the final page, and then it just scrolls back to the start.

12. Sounds of Pertussis’ digital strategy
Heavy use of scientific facts with citations
Videos of parents telling their vaccination / pertussis stories
They reinforce the facts being presented.
Search vaccination clinics by zipcode
Social media:
Facebook
68,445 likes
“Breathing Room” app

13. Sounds of Pertussis’ Facebook Application

14. Sounds of Pertussis SWOT Analysis
Lots of movement
Slow website
Cluttered design
Small text
Unconventional navigation
Embedded videos
Lots of images
Citations
Easy search for clinics
Active social media
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Integration of Facebook on their website
Twitter
YouTube channel
Vast amounts of misinformation on the web
Emotionally charged issue
Anti-vaxxers can overrun social media
Cluttered design: It looks like a bunch of popup boxes all over your screen. I just wanted to close them all.
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS

15. Sounds of Pertussis Recommendations
Integrate a Facebook feed on the website
Utilize Twitter
Create a YouTube Channel
Make the videos shareable
Give the website a cleaner design
Present the facts in a more digestible and well-organized format
Vertical presentation is better than horizontal
Increase the font size
Create an “About us” page

16. Immunize for Good
Collaboration of the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and Vaccine Advisory Committee of Colorado.
Mission:
“to further childhood immunization coverage in Colorado through education, vaccine provider resources and parental support.”
Target Audience:
Colorado parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children

19. Immunize for Good Digital Strategy
Education based website with helpful graphics
Why vaccinate page explains herd immunity and establishes credibility
Parents talk page has video and written testimonials
Fact or Fiction page dispels myths
The vaccines page has infographic style representations of vaccines, along with video animations
Interactive schedule with reminders and progress reports
Twitter: 2,658 followers
Facebook: 852 likes

20. Immunize for Good Digital Strategy
Education based website with helpful graphics
Why vaccinate page explains herd immunity and establishes credibility
Parents talk page has video and written testimonials
Fact or Fiction page dispels myths
The vaccines page has infographic style representations of vaccines, along with video animations
Interactive schedule with reminders and progress reports
Twitter: 2,658 followers
Facebook: 852 likes

21. Immunize for Good SWOT Analysis
Facebook and Twitter account names differ from the campaign name
Somewhat childish graphics
Beautiful website
Well organized
Interactive elements
Helpful graphics and animations
Active social media
Bilingual
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Integration of Facebook and Twitter on their website
Post unique content on FB and Twitter
Vast amounts of misinformation on the web
Emotionally charged issue
Anti-vaxxers can overrun social media
Post custom content on FB (rather than just links to others)
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS

22. Immunize for Good Recommendations
Integrate a Facebook/Twitter feed on the website
Post more unique content on social media
Try to get more parent involvement on social media
Ask questions, contests, prizes, etc.
Incorporate site badges
Immunize for Good did a pretty fantastic job on their website. I think they could better utilize social media because there is hardly any interaction occurring (just likes).

23. Comparison Feature Voices for Vaccines Sounds of Pertussis
Immunize for Good
Interactive content X
Written testimonials
Video testimonials
Establishes credibility
Bilingual
Active Facebook
Facebook application(s)
Active Twitter
Active Pinterest
Unique content on social media
Clinic search
Parents can submit stories