VANCOUVER, BC -- While national immunization rates remain high,
vaccine refusals are troubling. In some parts of the country,
pockets of unimmunized children have left communities vulnerable to
vaccine-preventable diseases, leading to outbreaks.
Top vaccine researchers will discuss the challenges to improving
vaccine coverage during a session on vaccine public policy at 2:45
p.m. PT Saturday, May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS)
meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The meeting takes
place at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Moderated by Stephen Berman, MD, professor and endowed chair of
general pediatrics at The Children's Hospital in Denver, the
symposium will address three key issues:
- Should parental rights overrule public health considerations?
Infectious disease epidemiologist Saad Omer, MBBS, MPH, PhD, of
Rollins School of Public Health and Emory Vaccine Center in
Atlanta, will discuss his studies of personal exemptions and state
immunization requirements.
- Are physicians reluctant to immunize patients because of the
high cost of certain vaccines? Walter A. Orenstein, MD, former
director of the National Immunization Program for the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who now works in global
health programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will
discuss vaccine cost, financing and recommendations for new
vaccines, and whether the CDC has the right information, tools and
experts to do what is needed.
- How reassuring is the data regarding autism and vaccines? Paul
Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, will discuss the birth of the
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, legal presumptions of
guilt regarding vaccines, and the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.
Finally, Lance E Rodewald, MD, director of the Immunization
Services Division at the CDC, will provide an update on these
issues from the CDC perspective.
Reporters wanting to interview any of the speakers should call
the PAS Press Office at 778-331-7694. Reporters who wish to attend
the session must first check in with the PAS Press Office at the
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre to receive press
credentials.
SOURCE