Trust Science: Help Make Essex Covid-Safe
A CSES Imagine! STEAM Competition
We are pleased to announce another online competition, hot on the heels of our CSES Imagine! Environmental Challenge and CSES Imagine! Plastic – Friend or Foe?
Vaccination is the only way that we are going to beat COVID-19 and get back to normal. But this only works if over 80% of people are vaccinated.
It is vital that the Covid-19 vaccination message is understood by your family and people who are worried, unsure, resist or reject being vaccinated.
Help us de-bunk myths, lies and fake news about the vaccine! If you are a primary, secondary or home-schooled pupil or student in Essex, CSES is challenging YOU to help beat Covid-19 and make Essex Covid-safe.
Imagine! how you would persuade people to get vaccinated. Design a poster or make your "call to action" Video and get your own message across. You could win a prize! And your video or poster will be published.
The deadline for entry is Friday 4 June 2021. Open to children and school students of all ages.
Read on to find out more about the competition and click here to register.
Virus and vaccine primer
When germs, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, invade our bodies, they attack and multiply. This invasion is what causes illness. Our body's immune system uses several tools to fight infection. These tools include red blood cells, which carry oxygen to tissues and organs; and white or immune cells, which fight infection.
When a person is infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, it can take many days or weeks for their body to make and use all the germ-fighting tools needed to combat the infection. Sometimes this is too late! Before our body can fight the invasion, the virus has developed an overwhelming control and we become very sick and sometimes die. COVID-19 vaccines work by injecting a harmless piece of the virus into our body, fooling it into thinking we're being attacked by the virus and so develop the germ-fighting tools we need without us having to get sick in the first place. Should we then be infected by the real virus, our body is ready to react immediately.
After COVID-19 vaccination, the person's immune system remembers what it learned about how to protect the body against that disease.
It's important to remember that the vaccine is manufactured in a sterile laboratory and contains nothing which is harmful to people.
Getting vaccinated is the most effective of many steps you can take to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. Protection from COVID-19 is critically important because for some people, it can cause severe illness or death. Vaccination is the only way to eradicate disease.
Remember:
Many trials have proved that the vaccines are safe. They reduce the risk of catching coronavirus, and significantly lower the chance of becoming seriously ill if it is contracted. Over 100 million people have been vaccinated worldwide (with at least one jab) and this is currently growing by 4 million per day. The risk of minor side effects is very low, and scientists and medical experts agree that it's safe. Vaccination is available locally and it's free!
The Challenge
Many people are hesitant about taking the COVID-19 vaccine, sometimes for religious or cultural reasons and sometimes because they are confused by false facts and misinformation. They are just not convinced yet.
So can you create a poster or video which would help persuade those people who are resistant to take up the offer of the vaccine in their own best interest, and for the health of the country as a whole?
Together we can beat the virus and get back to our normal lives.
Click here to register for the challenge.
Vaccination facts and fiction
Faith leaders – including those of Ethnic minorities – Doctors and Scientists have all voiced their support for the vaccination programme, and are encouraging reluctant groups – including teenagers and the elderly – to get vaccinated, but many are still reluctant to take part. Millions have been vaccinated already and the science behind vaccination is well established and lifesaving beyond any doubt.
Please TRUST SCIENCE: The COVID-19 vaccines on offer have been all been extensively tested, proven to be effective, and are safe and free. Like any other vaccine, they are not being used to inject us with microchips!
Yet still a significant minority of the UK population have voiced their reluctance to accept the vaccination when offered. This threatens to reduce the overall national take-up to less than the 80% which is accepted as the minimum necessary to protect us all and to prevent recurring infection waves.
Remember: those not vaccinated risk not just their health but the health of rest of the population too. We are not safe until everyone is safe. Every jab counts!
You will get lots of information (videos, posters and news clips etc) about COVID-19 – and the vital importance of getting vaccinated – from your TV, newspaper, social media and public sources on the internet (NHS, gov.uk, YouTube, TikTok, etc). Spend a little time to view, browse or search and do your research; do you think that what you have seen will convince the people who are unsure or reluctant to have the vaccine?
Don't allow lies, myths and misinformation to go unchallenged. Please make sure your friends, your family, and members of your local community get vaccinated!
But all these words and images are still failing to convince significant groups within our society.
Surely YOU can do better! So start to Imagine! and create a poster or video for this life-saving challenge. Even without your own tech, you can work as a team with friends, draw or paint a poster, or make and edit a simple video using just your phone.
Your imagination could help prevent people from dying of ignorance.
Click here to register for the challenge.
Here are some examples of COVID-19 vaccination videos and posters
A simple animated video about vaccines, less than 3 minutes long.
A 9-minute video discussing the different types of COVID-19 vaccines currently available.
How high is the risk? A simple 11-minute video about the importance of vaccines and the potential side effects.
Tim Blais @acapellascience – vaccine Wellerman.
vaccine wellerman let’s gooooo #seashantytok pic.twitter.com/JUv0l82cf3
— Tim Blais (@acapellascience) January 17, 2021
The British Red Cross on TikTok.
@britishredcross Spread facts, not fiction! ##mythbusters ##learnontiktok ##sciencefacts ##coronavirus
♬ original sound - Kay Ogunro
@britishredcross Spread facts and stay safe! ##coronavirus ##facts ##mythbusters
♬ оригинальный звук - Армен Михаелян
And finally a resource for teachers and home educators
Celebrate vaccines – https://www.immunology.org/celebrate-vaccines
Find out more about the competition and how to register
Please read the below then click here to register for the competition.
- All entries must be submitted electronically by following the instructions provided after registering at the link above.
- IMPORTANT: The file name format must be YourFirstName_YourLastName_CategoryName.ext.
- Posters may be submitted in PDF, DOC(X), PPT(X) or a common image format (full list provided on submission form).
- Videos may be MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI or MKV format with a recommended resolution of 1280 x 720 and maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080. Videos may be no longer than 60 seconds.
- The maximum upload file size is 20 MB. Use a file transfer service if necessary (instructions provided on submission form).
- The Competition is open to all primary, secondary and home-schooled children in Essex and the Unitary Authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. Individual and team entries are welcome. Team Entries must comprise no more than 4 members, one of whom must be nominated as Captain. Single Entries may also be submitted by a member of a team.
- Prizes will be awarded for the winning entry and the runner-up entry in each of the following categories:
- Primary Poster Category
- Primary Video Category
- Secondary Poster Category
- Secondary Video Category
- We will only consider entries submitted in the correct format before midday 4 June 2021.
- Winners and Runners-Up will be announced after Friday 11 June 2021.
- By submitting an entry to this competition, the entrant(s) declare(s) that the video or poster is his/her/their own work and free of any copyright other than their own personal copyright.
- Copyright for the submitted image or video remains with its author(s). However, by entering the competition, participants are granting CSES permission for publicity use online and/or in print. We (CSES) reserve the right to crop, edit, create derivative works from and share such material with our partners and the public, so long as this is consistent with our charitable objectives.
- If submitted images or videos contain people, the entrant has the responsibility of gaining their consent to use their image free of copyright, fee or any other restriction. If your images contain people aged 18 or under then you must submit a copy of our image consent form signed by a legal guardian.
- A maximum of one poster image and one 60-second (maximum) video can be submitted per person or team.
- Poster images and videos will not be accepted if they are deemed inappropriate. This includes images that may be deemed offensive, previously published, copyrighted or otherwise not deemed acceptable by the judging panel.
- All entrants must register for the competition before submitting an entry. Upon registration, instructions will be sent for submission.
- Amazon vouchers will be awarded to the winning and runner-up entry in each category.
- All entrants will be sent a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their competition entry.
- CSES reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition or judging categories, and alter the rules at any stage if circumstances arise outside of its control.
- There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition, but you will automatically be enrolled for free as a student member of CSES and receive information about our activities and events. You can opt out of this at any time.
- The CSES decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. This includes any judging decisions.
- The student winners and their school will be announced on our website. If you do not wish for this data to be shared, you should make this explicit by contacting us (see below).
- If you have any queries or questions please contact Bob Easby or Roy Hilsley. For technical issues relating to registration or submission via the website, please contact the Webmaster.
- CSES is a registered charity. Our constitution is published on our website. This challenge is one or our many Imagine! STEAM non-profit-making educational initiatives.