Immunisation, Spread the Word Not the Disease
'Immunisation, Spread The Word Not The Disease' is a health promotion campaign running on metropolitan and regional south Australian radio from August 2019.
Developed in partnership with local advertising guru James Rikard, the radio campaign starts with the arresting sound of a baby’s whooping cough and continues with a voice over explaining ‘adults can catch whooping cough. They can also catch a range of preventable diseases like measles and of course, the flu...’.
The campaign continues explaining adults can pass vaccine preventable diseases to children and prompts the listener to consider if the sound of a child’s whooping cough is uncomfortable to listen to, ‘imagine how bad you’d feel knowing it was you who gave it to them’.
The SA Immunisation Hub, a partnership program of Adelaide PHN and Country SA PHN, developed the campaign in recognition that:
- vaccine preventable conditions such as pneumonia, shingles, influenza and measles contribute to a high number of potentially preventable hospitalisations
- adult immunisation is a particularly important for those living with one or more chronic conditions (i.e. diabetes) as these people are more vulnerable to long term complications and negative health outcomes when contracting a vaccine preventable condition
- the focus of most immunisation campaigns typically focuses on childhood vaccination despite immunisation being important across the lifespan
The campaign encourages adults to check their immunisation history and get up to date with their immunisations by visiting their GP, Aboriginal health worker or council immunisation nurse.
