Levels of Engagement – Advocate for Vaccines
In Washington, 68.6% of three year olds and 86% of kindergartners are fully vaccinated. That means that a majority of parents are vaccinating their kids against 11 diseases.
Vaccination is a safe and healthy choice for our community. With your help, we can spread knowledge to stamp out illness and misinformation.
The Immunity Community gives you the tools to teach your family and community that getting vaccinate is a good decision.
Rest assured, you do not need to know everything about vaccines to be an advocate. You can be a powerful advocate simply by encouraging people to talk to their doctor.
Remember: you represent the majority. You give a voice to families who vaccinate and want to increase the positive chatter around vaccines.
What level of engagement works for you? Here are a few ways to scale up or down your advocacy. Choose actions that make sense for your family and life, and contact us for more ideas!
Easy Does It
Everyone will start here. It's the stage when you educate yourself and share information with your friends. Here are some activities you can do right now:
Casual Activist
You feel confident about all of this vaccine stuff. You know what diseases we're fighting against and the common questions your friends have. Try these steps:
On a Mission
Watch out, you are blazing with information! You are becoming the go-to-source for questions about vaccines for your friends. You share your growing knowledge and inspire others to join you in our cause to protect the community. Here are some more ways to spread the word:
Easy Does It
- Look up your school’s immunization rate. Is it higher or lower than you expected?
- Watch videos to educate yourself about vaccine hesitancy in Washington and hear from real Washington families about why they vaccinate (see parent videos below)
- Read Plain Talk About Childhood Immunization
- Make sure you are up to date on your own vaccines!
- Talk with your friends about your views on vaccines; learn how to have a positive conversation using our HEART Method and how to gracefully exit a conversation
Casual Activist
- After you’ve looked up your child’s school’s immunization rate, put up our speedometer poster in your child’s school or child care displaying your rate (be sure to ask permission first!)
- Celebrate your high vaccination rate by announcing it in your PTA or school newsletter or talk to your child’s school’s administration if the immunization rate is low to learn about what you can do to help bring it up
- Post flyers at your child’s school, and in your community about the positive reasons to vaccinate. Check out and download our flyers!
- Share your support of vaccines on social media by sharing our monthly viral images and ask your friends to comment on the post
- Invite a health care provider to speak to your preschool, elementary school or new parent group
- Host an Immunity Community booth at your child’s science fair. Contact us to borrow our “wheel of disease,” vaccine trivia questions, and infographic!
- Write an article about vaccinations in your next school newsletter. Feel free to use these articles written by vaccine advocates on topics including flu, HPV, and more!
On a Mission
- Hold a flu vaccination contest at your office, school, or local coffee shop. If enough people get vaccinated, celebrate with donuts, a pizza party, or a drawing for a gift certificate
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about vaccines; check out our sample letters to the editor for ideas
- Download and customize this PowerPoint template to present about immunizations and why you are an advocate at your next PTA or school meeting
- Create a bulletin board using our How To guide (to making a spiffy display)
- Join the Immunization Action Coalition of WA by signing up for our newsletter to get alerts about our meetings and events!
