Coloring book penned by Boston medical professor addresses vaccine, Covid-19 concerns

By Jessica Brown

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    BOSTON (WCVB) — A new coloring book is helping local kids draw clear lines between COVID-19 and the vaccines.

More than 2,000 copies of the coloring book, Emma RNA Saves the Day, were delivered recently to public schools in Boston and Worcester.

UMass Chan Medical School is offering the coloring books for free to schools or anyone who wants to download a copy from its website.

Author Angela Messmer-Blust, an assistant professor at the school, said her 5-year-old daughter is the inspiration behind using a “super girl” named Emma RNA to represent a COVID-19 vaccine.

With her friends Auntie Body and Mister T, Emma saves the world from a dangerous new villain named Spike Man.

“We really wanted a way to use some of the analogies to explain the science in a fun way, so we hope to take some of the fear out of it for the kids and parents and other adults who may be questioning is this safe?” Messmer-Blust said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there so this kind of cuts through the noise a little bit.”

Messmer-Blust said the book is written for kids in grades 5 through 8, but many adults have told her it helped them better understand how vaccines work and debunked some common myths, including the false theory that vaccines can somehow change a person’s DNA.

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