Lancaster researchers have helped to develop a podcast for children explaining immunization based on an adventure inside the human body.

The podcast uses a script and recording produced with local school children in the Northwest to learn about vaccines and the immune system.

The podcast features immunologist Dr Donald Palmer, public health registrar and honorary Lancaster University researcher Dr Pallavi Patel and Professor Rachel Isba, Consultant in Paediatric Public Health Medicine at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Children and Young People’s Health at Lancaster University.

They worked with creative company Made by Mortals to produce the podcast with local children.

Professor Isba said: “We loved working with Made by Mortals to make this a fun and informative scientific piece, with and for children and young people.”

The podcast was part of ongoing work to address vaccine uptake in the Northwest alongside work at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to offer inpatient vaccination and opportunistic flu vaccinations on site.

Dr Patel said: “Alongside other health inequalities, vaccine equity is a key issue in the Northwest, meaning that children are less likely to be protected from preventable illnesses. Recent high-profile cases have highlighted that measles is still sadly a global and local Public Health problem, often affecting the most vulnerable children and young people. This podcast is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness and understanding of immunisations in a way that is accessible to children and young people as well as their families.”

There are known to be inequalities in vaccine uptake in the North of England, with uptake of both doses of the MMR vaccine in the North West lower than 80% in certain areas. The World Health Organisation target states that at least 95% of children should have received both doses of MMR by the age of five years.

The podcast was funded by NHS England Northwest Screening and Immunisation and the British Society for Immunology and was a partnership between NHSE (via Alder Hey), BSI and Lancaster University.