One for All, All for One

"...an engaging, powerful, and accessible way of delivering a true-to-life and character-driven narrative about vaccination, and research into vaccine development." - Rodrick Sambakunsi, MPRU Public Engagement Manager, Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme

"One for All, All for One" is a comic and film designed to promote dialogue about vaccines and community immunity and to encourage everyone to have a say in health research, including as part of research into vaccines and immunisation. The comic is being shared with the public, researchers, government officials, and public health authorities in Malawi, South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK), and beyond with the aim that they will ignite and inform further conversations around vaccines and immunisation.

The 4-chapter comic follows teenaged siblings Tadala and Mayeso as they navigate myths and misinformation, question the influence of opinion makers and social media, and appreciate the long-term impact of inclusive, collaborative community research. They discover the value of different perspectives, which help them engage with their community and science. With the help of family, scientists, and their community, Tadala and Mayeso challenge traditional research and communication methods and learn how to come to their own conclusions.

"One for All, All for One" is the result of a collaborative project between University College London (UCL), Vocal, the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In 2019, researchers based in sub-Saharan Africa, science communicators across the globe, and people in Malawi and the UK making everyday decisions about vaccination joined in conversation, sparked by a collective concern that communication about vaccines and immunisation needed rethinking. Their goal was to co-create widely accessible communication formats to encourage dialogue about immunisation at a time when global vaccine coverage was dropping, often putting the most vulnerable at risk, and misinformation was rife. Those involved in the project were particularly interested in exploring how narratives around community immunity (sometimes called herd immunity or community protection) and collectivist approaches in science might resonate with different cultures across the globe, with the voices of the global South leading the narrative.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the co-creation process took place mostly online across Malawi, South Africa, and the UK, with some periods of (masked) in-person workshops. The ambition was to listen and learn from people from all walks of life, including young parents, faith leaders, community members, policymakers, and more. (Organisers also drew on evidence from science communication and social science research.) The discussions that took place in the workshops not only informed the content of the narrative, but the format, too: the comic. The goal was to choose a format that is entertaining and informative and that has the potential to be adaptable to different languages and geographical locations. In this way, organisers hope to cross cultural boundaries and enable access to a wide audience.

In addition to a print version, a digital version of this comic is available in English and Chichewa. Short animated films of the comic with English and Chichewa voiceovers (see one example, below) are designed to bring the characters, their context, and experiences to life. (The comic and the films can be translated (under Creative Commons license) by getting in touch with Rodrick Sambakunsi rsambakunsi@mlw.mw or vocal@mft.nhs.uk.)