Though the second wave of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic has ended and public concern about the illness has clearly waned, the nation is continuing to see sporadic cases of the virus, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) said Monday. Therefore, vaccination efforts continue.

Specifically, MDH issued a notice telling communication professionals at public health agencies, hospitals and other health care organizations where they can find:

• a customizable template for a print advertisement promoting H1N1 vaccination, in multiple graphic formats; and
• script templates for two radio public service announcements (PSAs) on H1N1 vaccination, which can be localized.

The online resources are available at MDH's WorkSpace site here. Users must obtain a password from MDH to participate on the secure site. The Web portal provides access to information technology tools, messaging capabilities and sensitive document posting. It was created by MDH for planning and managing emergencies, disease outbreaks and other significant public health events.

Training on how to use the tool is available on the site.

The PSAs will soon be available in multiple languages on the Minnesota ECHO Web site.