One Shot Heroes

Eleven and twelve-year-olds are at an age when they begin making important decisions and are ready to be involved with their own health. However, preteens often underestimate their risk for vaccine-preventable disease and have an increasing fear of injections. To counter these barriers to immunization, it is vital to communicate through effective and appealing media such as video, which can now be shared on popular social networking websites. Based on focus-group testing with 11-and 12-year-olds, the California Department of Public Health, Immunization Branch produced an educational video, entitled, “One Shot Heroes.” The video, aimed at preteens, is intended to raise awareness about the importance of immunizations. The story opens up with a teenage girl recently diagnosed with meningitis. As the teen weakens, her friends become desperate to find a cure and reach out to a local zany scientist. While the scientist cannot develop a cure, the teens discover that he has a tool that may save her life: a time machine. After some persuasion, the scientist agrees to help the teens travel back in time to convince the dying girl's parents to get her vaccinated while she is eleven years old. After returning from their wild adventure, the friends find that their friend is alive and well. The video will become available on YouTube, and an associated lesson plan will be provided to middle schools.