Vaccine Preventable Diseases Conference 2010: Facts of Vaccine Science, Safety and Surveillance

Photo (from left to right): Angela Sorrells-Washington, JD, Alan Hinman, MD, MPH, Sylvia H. Bookbinder, MPH, CHES, and Daniel Salmon, PhD, MPH at the Q and A panel during the morning session.

On Monday, July 26, the New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness (NJCPHP) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) School of Public Health tackled the controversies swirling around vaccines and parental concerns regarding immunizations for pre-school and school-age children and youth. The conference, “Vaccine Preventable Diseases: Facts of Vaccine Science, Safety, and Surveillance” was hosted simultaneously at three New Jersey locations: Monmouth University, Montclair State University, and Cumberland County College.

There were more than 375 conference attendees across the three locations. Dr. Christina Tan, State Epidemiologist/Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, delivered the welcoming remarks. Dr. Alan Hinman, senior public health scientist for the Public Health Informatics Institute at the Task Force for Global Health, a nationally recognized expert on infectious diseases and immunizations, opened the program with a national perspective on financing childhood immunizations and the benefits of immunization registries.

This is the second year that the conference utilized video-stream technology, allowing the conference speakers to reach the 375+ attendees simultaneously at the different sites. All speakers were very well received with participants stating they were “very informative”. Topic areas included benefits and barriers to using immunization registries, development of flu strains and vaccines, current outbreaks of preventable diseases, strategies to increase immunization compliance, and to address public concerns about immunizations.

Please find the agenda and the presentation slides attached below and print at your convenience.