MAKING PROTECTION PERSONAL

Making prevention personal

What does it mean to be protected from an infectious disease?

The answer is rarely as simple as a vaccination date in a medical record. Protection depends on the disease, the vaccine, previous doses and exposures, age and individual circumstances — and it may change over time.

For many years, VIVI has explored how complex information about immunization and infectious disease prevention can become more meaningful to the people it concerns.

An early collaboration with the HPI School of Design Thinking brought together medicine, science, communication and human-centered design to address a deceptively simple question: How can people better understand and use information about their own protection? 

The project generated prototypes ranging from more intuitive vaccination records to digital tools connecting individual immunization histories with relevant scientific information. Just as importantly, it established a way of working: begin with real questions, bring different disciplines and perspectives together, prototype solutions, test them with users, and improve them through evidence and feedback. 

That approach continues to inform VIVI’s work today — combining infectious disease science, clinical research, digital innovation and meaningful participation to make prevention more understandable, measurable and useful.

Don’t wait — innovate!