Playing with vaccines: a proposal for a new LEGO set

The beginning of the European Immunization Week, which will be followed in a few days by the World Immunization Week, is a perfect chance to remind the importance of vaccination and immunization programme. Among the several initiatives to keep the attention high on such a topic, one involved even the Lego group. Lego ideas is a website developed by the famous Danish toy company where fans may share ideas and proposals for new Lego set. The website allows everyone to post an idea and to gather support. Once a project raise 10,000 supporters, it goes under review by a board, which will decide if it may became a new set to be produced.

One of the many projects that are trying to reach the threshold is called Vaccine heroes: it is made up by a main diorama and three vignettes. The diorama is about the World Smallpox Eradication Program of the World Health Organization (WHO.) and shows a team of professionals of the WHO bringing vaccines in a remote place of Africa. Each vignette illustrates a key moment in the history of the vaccines: the discovery of the first vaccine (against smallpox) by Edward Jenner; the research and discoveries made by Louis Pasteur; the development of the first polio vaccine by Jonas Salk.

The project has collected almost 300 supporters in the first week and has a bit less than one year to reach 10,000. A difficult task that may count on the help of some institutions, like the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), and pro-vaccines websites, which shared its page through their social media account. Even though Lego, at this stage of the proposal, is not directly involved, such a project is an interesting example of how communication could find new and original ways to reach its targets.