Bird, poultry, cattle and swine worker - flu vaccine social media toolkit

Flu hits hard, and for some, it hits harder. Flu was widespread across Scotland last winter, and almost 5,000 adults needed hospital treatment. Getting vaccinated is the best way to help protect yourself and reduce the risk of catching and spreading flu this winter.

Why are these groups offered the flu vaccine?

Poultry workers and bird handlers

Bird flu is a virus that mainly affects birds, but it can be passed to humans. It can infect poultry, pigeons and wild or migratory birds such as ducks.

During a bird flu outbreak, people who work closely with birds may be at risk of catching the virus. If someone has bird flu and human flu at the same time, the viruses could mix in their body and create a new type of flu virus. A new flu virus produced in this way could spread very easily and cause serious illness, because people would not have immunity to it.

Cattle and swine workers

In 2024, bird flu was found in dairy cattle in the United States. People who work closely with the cattle or swine may be at a higher risk of infection during an outbreak.

If someone catches bird flu and human flu at the same time, the viruses could mix and create a new type of flu virus. This could spread easily because people would have little or no immunity to it.

Help spread our message

A social media toolkit with assets and captions is available to download, so you can share on your channels. The toolkit also contains email, newsletter and website copy for you to communicate directly with this audience. Please pass this on to any relevant colleagues. 

All resources can be downloaded on the PHS Marketing Resource Centre. 

Please regularly feed these social media assets into your planned activity using the hashtag #FluHitsHarder. Using the campaign hashtag is important as it allows us to monitor usage, which informs future campaigns. 

For more information visit www.nhsinform.scot/flu 

Your support is much appreciated.