NIIW 2017 Social and Digital Media Recap

Since its inception in 1994, National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) has become an important week-long observance aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of protecting babies through childhood immunization. A large part of NIIW’s success is attributed to immunization programs, partners and volunteer social ambassadors, who participate in a variety of activities throughout the course of NIIW. During NIIW 2018, these activities included a Twitter Storm with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a Blog-A-Thon with 28 different partners.

#ivax2protect Twitter Storm

CDC and AAP hosted a Twitter Storm with the hashtag #ivax2protect. CDC shared tile infographics about vaccine preventable diseases and AAP pediatricians, parents, and organizations from the U.S. and across the world shared why they say #ivax2protect. Partners, health care professionals, and parents used #ivax2protect over 3,100 times, and tweets with the hashtag reached 31 million people throughout the Twitter Storm.

NIIW Blog-A-Thon

CDC invited partners to write blog posts on the importance of infant and childhood vaccines during the NIIW Blog-A-Thon. Shot of Prevention (Every Child By Two), PedsGeek M.D., Child Care Aware of America, Verywell, and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) participated as anchor blogs each weekday of NIIW. Overall, 28 different partners and individuals wrote blogs to increase awareness of vaccine preventable diseases and the importance of following CDC’s recommended immunization schedule.

NIIW 2017 Anchor Blogs*:

CDC Partners’ Social Content

During NIIW, immunization programs and partners highlighted the importance of childhood vaccines across their social networks. Many partners and immunization coalitions regularly share important messages about vaccines with parents and made posts throughout NIIW. Here are a few examples:

* Note: When you follow a link from CDC to an external website created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations and individuals, you are leaving CDC.gov and are subject to the external site‘s privacy and security policies. CDC does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained on an external site. We also do not endorse the site’s sponsor, any views they express, or any products or services they offer.