Flu advertising campaign | Winter wellness | MMR new collateral available | COVID Primary care webinar | Up-to-date vaccination

Dear PMAANZ colleagues,

We wanted to let you know about some of the work we have been up to this week. 

Phase two – Flu advertising campaign   

On Tuesday 7 June, phase two of the Flu campaign commences with the launch of our Flu television commercial. This phase expands to include New Zealanders who may wish to pay to get the flu vaccine or can access it through their workplace. We will also continue our focus on Māori and Pacific audiences during this phase of the campaign.    

A multi-channel approach is being leveraged in phase two with advertising running across TV, digital, radio (including culturally and linguistically diverse stations – CALD) and press (including CALD papers), until the end of July.   

The TV ad is built around the concept of not leaving getting sick with the flu to chance. It leverages light-hearted humour to create awareness of the flu season, why this year it is particularly important to get vaccinated, and to motivate people to get the flu jab.     

If you’re keen to see the Flu TV ad on Tuesday 7 June, three prime spots it will air are:   

• Newshub live at 6.10pm and 6.30pm  
• 1 News at 6.50pm  

Winter wellness  

You probably have received these key messages below already, but just to be sure, I am including it below. Now that winter has arrived, we’re keen to get everyone behind the sector’s “winter wellness” initiative, aimed at raising awareness of the heightened risks to people’s health and encouraging them to practise protective health behaviours.     

The “Stay well this winter” lock-up is a visual device that we’re hoping many health and community providers, government agencies, local government and others will use and promote locally across their channels.  

Some of the key messages include:    

• Staying healthy this winter means looking after your physical wellbeing, by eating healthy foods and staying active - but also addressing the mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of your hauora too.   
• Simple healthy habits like washing our hands and wearing a face mask can stop the spread of infectious illnesses. Let’s keep practising these throughout winter to keep ourselves and our communities safe.   
• Vaccination saves lives. It is one of the most important ways we can protect ourselves, our whānau and our communities from many infectious diseases particularly our most vulnerable population groups.    
• Getting a flu jab is the best defence from the flu this winter. They’re available now and are free for those most likely to get very sick.   
• Make sure you have all three COVID-19 vaccinations – it will protect you from the worst effects of COVID-19.     

Three simple steps to make sure you and your whānau stay well this winter:   

• Get up to date with your vaccinations for COVID-19, influenza, and measles.   
• Wear a mask indoors whenever you’re not at home.    
• Stay home if you’re unwell and get tested for COVID-19. You need to self-report both positive and negative results for RATs through My Covid Record, so we understand the size of the outbreak.  

You can access the lock-up and visual aids here Dropbox - Winter wellness - Simplify your life  

Dropbox – new collateral available  

We’ve updated some of our collateral on Dropbox including:  

MMR  

Our broader MMR campaign is still in the planning stages, but we wanted to get these initial resources out there as we know many DHBs are already engaging in your own local areas on MMR. We will be continuing to build out more resources that you can use as we develop our campaign over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we ask that any MMR work you do uses this lockup and colour scheme (see Dropbox for lockup), replacing the older 'Guardians of the Future' material that you may have previously used.  

We also have a Measles video we wanted to share with you – click here. The video will go on our website soon and we plan to edit it into two shorter versions so we can share those on our social media – most likely next week. The updated ‘after your immunisation’ information sheet for MMR is also available in the Dropbox link below.  

Dropbox - NIP – Vaccine resources for health professionals - Simplify your life.  

Dropbox - Winter wellness - Simplify your life  

COVID-19  

Primary care webinar  

A primary care webinar was held on Wednesday 25 May. Recording and slides available here: Ministry of Health May COVID-19 Response Update for Primary Care - Education Session May 2022 (vimeo.com)  

Naked link: https://vimeo.com/713925269/a15c6833e6  

Up-to-date vaccination  

The current definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ does not include boosters. Incorporating emerging evidence means flexibility around future vaccination requirements. Vaccination against COVID-19 is not an end point, but potentially part of an ongoing vaccination programme. Therefore, the Ministry of Health now recommends that people are ‘up-to-date’ with their vaccines if they have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccinations, including any booster dose(s) if and when eligible, according to their age and other factors. This is inclusive of people who are exempt from COVID-19 vaccinations or require different doses or vaccine schedules.  

Please note, this means we are no longer using the definition of fully vaccinated and have removed the policy statement from our website.   

Hope you have a lovely long weekend.