Registration open for Why Vaccinate? A free global health symposium

The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, Health[e]Foundation and the Amsterdam UMC are pleased to host a global health symposium focused on vaccinations. Registration is free and open until December 10.

After clean water, vaccination is the most effective public health intervention in the world that saves lives and promotes good health. Vaccines protect everybody. They protect individuals who suffer most from serious infectious diseases, such as young children and the elderly and they also protect people who cannot be or who choose not to be vaccinated. If more than 95% of people in a population have been vaccinated, the number of people who are susceptible to a viral or bacterial infection is so low that infections do not spread easily.

Vaccines are extremely safe, but they do not always protect a person completely: this is an important reason to continue to invest in research focused on improving vaccinations. Inaccurate information on the internet and social media has persuaded more and more parents to choose not to vaccinate their children. This has already resulted in measles epidemics, such as those seen in the pre-vaccination era.

The purpose of the symposium is to update the medical and social science community on access to vaccines; the efficacy and safety of vaccines; the latest achievements in vaccine development; and the reluctance to accept vaccines, both here in the Netherlands and worldwide. The round table discussion will create a platform to discuss the role of vaccination in individual and public health.

Details below:

When: December 18, 2018
Time: 16:00-18:00
Where: Lecture Room 4, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC

Program: 

15:30 – 16:00: Registration
16:00 – 16:10: Welcome by Hans Romijn, Amsterdam UMC
16:10 – 16:30: Immunization: a global priority by Seth Berkley, GAVI/University of Geneva
16:30 – 16:50: New ways to fight Influenza by Jaap Goudsmit, Harvard / University of Amsterdam
16:50 – 17:10: The Dutch situation by Jaap van Dissel, RIVM
17:10 – 17:30: Vaccine hesitance by Stuart Blume, University of Amsterdam
17:30 – 18:00: Round table with Roel Coutinho, Utrecht University and Bas van den Putte, University of Amsterdam
18:00 – 18:30: Closing and drinks

Accredited by: Accreditatie Bureau Algemene Nascholing (ABAN) (2 pts)

For more information, please email: vaccines@healthefoundation.eu

Register today.