Vaccines

This course will discuss issues regarding vaccines and vaccine safety: the history, science, benefits, and risks of vaccines, together with the controversies surrounding vaccines and answers to common questions that parents have about vaccines.

About the Course

This course will discuss issues regarding vaccines and vaccine safety. Specifically, 1) the history of vaccines, focusing on different strategies used during the past two centuries to make them, 2) the science of vaccines, focusing on methods of attenuation of various viruses and bacteria, 3) the benefits of vaccines, focusing on the impact of vaccines on health both in the United States and abroad, 4) the risks of vaccines, both real and perceived, 5) the controversies surrounding vaccines, specifically that vaccines cause autism, multiple sclerosis, neurodevelopmental delays, diabetes or other chronic problems, and 6) answers to common questions that parents have about vaccines, such as the fear that too many vaccines given too soon weaken, overwhelm, or perturb the immune system or that vaccines contain harmful additives or manufacturing residuals.

For additional information about vaccines, the Vaccine Education Center, or its program for parents, called Parents PACK, please visit:http://vaccine.chop.edu
http://vaccine.chop.edu/parents
http://www.prevent-hpv.com

About the Instructor(s)

Paul A. Offit, MD is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In addition, Dr. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of many awards, including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. He is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC. For this achievement, Dr. Offit received the Luigi Mastroianni and William Osler Awards from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the Charles Mérieux Award from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and was honored by Bill and Melinda Gates during the launch of their Foundation's Living Proof Project for global health. In 2011, Dr. Offit received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Biologics Industry Organization (BIO), the Distinguished Medical Achievement Award from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the David E. Rogers Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges, the Odyssey Award from the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, and was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Offit was a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation and the Foundation for Vaccine Research.

He is the author of five medical narratives: The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to Today's Growing Vaccine Crisis (Yale University Press, 2005); Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases (HarperCollins, 2007), for which he won an award from the American Medical Writers Association; Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure (Columbia University Press, 2008); Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (Basic Books, 2011); and Killing Us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine (HarperCollins, 2013).

He has made it his life's work to educate both the medical profession and the lay public on the value of vaccinations and the terrible human cost of bad science.

FAQ

• Will I get a Statement of Accomplishment after completing this class?

  Yes. Students who successfully complete the class will receive a Statement of Accomplishment signed by the instructor.

Provided by:

University: University of Pennsylvania

Instructor(s): Paul Offit, MD