BACKGROUND:
Although immunization education and outreach is a year round activity, focused, time-limited campaigns often have the greatest impact with respect to the delivery of immunization services. The success of a campaign, whether conducted at the local, state, regional or national level, is determined by engaging partners and the media, thorough planning, credible spokespersons and authoritative resources.

OBJECTIVE:
To examine the steps involved in establishing August as National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) as a model for the creating an effective campaign.

METHOD:
Preparations for NIAM begin at least ten months in advance. Key partner organizations participate in identifying NIAM’s central theme (e.g., community immunity), review brochures and other documents created in support of NIAM and are invited to be NIAM endorsers. Once the theme is determined, speakers are invited to participate in the NIAM press briefing and Congressional Education Session. A promotional kit containing consumer-oriented brochures, letters of support for NIAM from national political figures and public health officials, guidance for engaging local media and other resources is produced.

RESULT:
More than 55 organizations contributed in a variety of ways to NIAM 2003. NIAM focused on the importance of community immunity, and this message was disseminated during the NIAM press briefing and Congressional Education Session, in the NPI Bulletin and in materials provided in the NIAM promotional kit and on the NPI Web site. The briefing resulted in over 20 million media impressions. More than 3,000 promotional kits were distributed.

CONCLUSION:
The rapid acceptance and success of NIAM reflects the value of working with partners and collaborators, the dedication and commitment of staff and others and the delivery of timely and quality products and messages that support the work of the immunization community.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Identify key components to initiating an effective immunization campaign
2) Discuss opportunities for engaging partners and collaborators to achieve a successful campaign
3) Describe how the NIAM model might be adapted for use at the local, state or regional level