National Influenza Vaccination Week Kicks Off Today
National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) is a national observance that was established to highlight the importance of continuing influenza vaccination, as well as fostering greater use of flu vaccine after the holiday season into January and beyond. This year's NIVW (originally scheduled for December 6-10, 2009) was moved to this week and begins today, with activities and campaign efforts planned through Sat., Jan. 16.
Every year, certain days of NIVW are designated to highlight the importance for different groups such as health care workers and children to get vaccinated. This year's national schedule is as follows:
- Today -- Kickoff
- Monday, Jan. 11 -- Focus on the general audience and health care workers
- Tuesday, Jan. 12 -- Focus on people with chronic health conditions that put them at high-risk of serious influenza-related complications
- Wednesday, Jan. 13 -- Focus on children, pregnant women, and caregivers of infants less than 6 months old
- Thursday, Jan. 14 -- Focus on young adults (19 through 24 years old)
- Friday, Jan. 15 -- Focus on seniors
- Saturday, Jan. 16 -- Wrap up
As part of today's kickoff, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will visit the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., to urge congregants to get the H1N1 flu vaccine. On Tuesday, HHS and CDC will host a webinar with the American Diabetes Association, the American Lung Association, and the American Cancer Society. For webinar details, contact [email protected]. For other national, state, and regional activities planned for the week, visit www.flu.gov. The site includes posters, brochures, fact sheets, and other materials for use during the week's observance, as well as an NIVW media toolkit and other resources.