Fantastic Voyage 2021: Using Interactive VR Storytelling to Explain Targeted COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery to Antigen-presenting Cells

Zhang, L.; Lu, F. Y.; Tahmid, I. A.; Davari, S.; Lisle, L.; Gutkowski, N.; Schlueter, L.; Bowman, D. A.; Ieee,

Science storytelling is an effective way to turn abstract scientific concepts into easy-to-understand narratives. Science storytelling in immersive virtual reality (VR) can further optimize learning by leveraging rich interactivity in a virtual environment and creating an engaging learning-by-doing experience. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we propose a solution to use interactive storytelling in immersive VR to promote science education for the general public on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination. The educational VR storytelling experience we have developed uses sci-fi storytelling, adventure and VR gameplay to illustrate how COVID-19 vaccines work. After playing the experience, users will understand how the immune system in the human body reacts to a COVID-19 vaccine so that it is prepared for a future infection from the real virus.