Debating COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters: Public Health Strategy in a Shifting Landscape

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2020-22
October 29, 2021 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
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Public health authorities in the U.S. are analyzing data on the long-term effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and debating the need for vaccine booster shots. This webinar will bring together top experts in public health with different points of view. They will consider federal recommendations on Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine boosters, and the vaccination of children.

In this highly interactive webinar, panelists will discuss these pressing issues and respond to audience questions.

Find resources related to the webinar here. 

Panelists are:

Eric J. Topol

Eric J. Topol, MD
Eric J. Topol, MD
Executive Vice President, Scripps Research
Director & Founder, Scripps Research Translational Institute

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Bio

Eric Topol, MD, is an Executive Vice President at Scripps Research and the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. His work melds genomics, big data, and both information technologies and digital health technologies to advance the promise of personalized medicine. In 2016, the National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. Topol a $207 million grant to lead a significant part of the All of Us Research Program, a long-term research endeavor aimed at understanding how a person’s genetics, environment and lifestyle can guide approaches to preventing or treating disease. Dr. Topol is the author of three bestselling books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine, The Patient Will See You Now, and Deep Medicine.

Sarah S. Long, MD

Sarah S. Long, MD
Sarah S. Long, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Drexel University College of Medicine

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Bio

Sarah Long, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and Emeritus Chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Dr. Long has served as Chair of the first Subspecialty Board of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of the American Board of Pediatrics (the national certifying agency for pediatrics and its subspecialties), Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Pediatrics, President of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (the national organization of subspecialists), and President of the Medical Staff at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. Dr. Long's principal areas of research are vaccine preventable diseases and management of common infectious diseases in children. She sits on research advisory committees for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Yvonne Maldonado, MD

Yvonne Maldonado, MD
Yvonne Maldonado, MD
Chief, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Stanford University School of Medicine

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Bio

Yvonne (Bonnie) Maldonado, MD, is Professor and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Medicine. She also directs Stanford's Global Child Health Program and serves as the Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Dr. Maldonado's research focuses on epidemiologic aspects of viral vaccine development and prevention of perinatal HIV transmission. Her lab is also leading efforts to improve diagnostics and understanding of SARS-COV2 transmission.

Moderated by:

Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH

Michael T. Osterholm
Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH
Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)
Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health
Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering
University of Minnesota

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Bio

Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, is Regents Professor; McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health; the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP); and Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He is also a Professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an Adjunct Professor in the Medical School. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has served as a high-level advisor on issues related to bioterrorism, public health preparedness, and infectious diseases.

Susan M. Wolf, JD

Susan Wolf
Susan M. Wolf, JD
Chair, Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences
Regents Professor
McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy
Faegre Drinker Professor of Law
Professor of Medicine
University of Minnesota

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Bio

Professor Susan M. Wolf is a Regents Professor; McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy; Faegre Drinker Professor of Law; and Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. She is Chair of the University’s Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).