Hi all, Vaccines Today has run a competition for each of the past six years to encourage the public to think of new ways to highlight the importance of vaccination. In the past, we've had video and photo competitions aimed at students, young doctors, travelers, photographers and the general public. This year, the 2017 Communication Challenge invites the public to tell a story - in images and words - about 'Nina' and the lifetime of memories she can create if she's in good health. The message is that vaccines can help to keep people healthy, enabling them to live a full and active life. Participants can draw Nina, or print out a ready-made image from our competition site. They then place her in a scenario, take a photo, and describe it in 100-200 words. Sounds complicated - but the website (hopefully) explains it a little more clearly than I can! Feel free to share with anyone who might be interested. Prizes are available for European entrants (as they are our target audience) so please consider this if you choose to promote it. I also attach some pre-written tweets and Facebook posts that a digital communications agency has helped us to developed. Thanks! Gary Vaccines Today-Communication Challenge 2017_ Social media posts_07.0.2017.docx

Hi all, In light of proposals from France and Italy to make several childhood vaccines mandatory, I was thinking of writing an article on this topic for Vaccines Today. I found an article based on 2010 data from the VENICE project. Is there any way to find out the current state-of-play? We have had questions from readers and people on social media asking which vaccines are mandatory in which countries - but it's not easy to answer. Thanks and regards, Gary Finnegan Editor Vaccines Today

Hi Pernille, Would you be interested in a short interview about this? I think it would make a nice case study/story for Vaccines Today https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/ Feel free to email me directly on finnegag - at - gmail.com Gary

The European Commission is dedicating this year’s EU Health Award to initiatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that contributed or are contributing to high standards of public health in the European Union through vaccination. This is great recognition of the importance of vaccination. Previous EU Health Awards were for initiatives to fight Ebola and anti-microbial resistance. The prizes are substantial: €20,000, €15,000 and €10,000. Read more here The European Commission is also hosting a workshop on vaccination in Brussels later this month, including a session on vaccine hesitancy and communication (to which I will contribute). It feels like there is a lot of momentum behind vaccination at the moment.

Great work Alice! And congratulations to IoVaccino on joining the VSN. I won't embarrass you by posting the story of how you became a vaccination champion. Just kidding - I will https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/whooping-cough-alice-turned-her-daughters-brush-with-death-into-a-positive-campaign-for-better-health/ And the video too...

Dear all, Vaccines Today has published a new 1-minute animated video highlighting the importance of protecting the whole family against vaccine-preventable diseases. The idea is to emphasies 'protection' (which research suggestions is a strong motivator) and to present vaccination as a social norm - something families do to protect their loved ones, just like wearing a seatbelt or a cycle helmet. This is the first of a series we are making which will feature the characters shown in this video. We want to highlight vaccination at all ages so we plan to make video focusing on the children, the grandmother, the adolescent...the mother might even become pregnant at some point! And we even showed the dog getting his vaccines Please share and reuse. If anyone wants a version without the English voiceover let me know. I have already shared a language-neutral version with an Italian colleague who plans to add an Italian voice-over. Email me directly on finnegag_at_gmail.com and I'll send the video and script.

This is fantastic - thanks!

Hi Lucy, We posted an article today using some of the material you shared - including a great film with Anne Geddes. https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/is-there-a-vaccine-against-meningitis/ Best, Gary

Thanks Lucy, Vaccines Today will have a blog using some of your material and we've also signed up for the Thunder Clap. Best, Gary

Thanks Alma, This is exactly what I was looking for! Gary

Is anyone aware of any events in Brussels during EIW2017? The European Commission mentioned at a recent conference that a Joint Action on immunisation was being developed but I'm not sure about the timeline.

Interesting and timely piece. The European Commission is hosting an event on vaccine hesitancy tomorrow - it will be live-streamed here https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/vaccination-hesitancy-in-europe-facts-opinions-and-the-way-forward

Dear all, We (@VaccinesToday) are preparing our plan for EIW2017. We hope to launch the first in a series of animated videos about life-long immunisation. The preliminary idea - which we will begin developing this month - is to introduce the public to a family and then to have individual 'episodes' to explain some of the vaccine-preventable diseases that affect each. This will also give us a chance to show how protecting one family member from infection could help protect others. What are you planning? Are there any events (online or offline) or new material (videos, infographics) that you plan to launch? Please let us know and we will be happy to promote/share through our channels.