Vaccine News & Notes — October 2020

Fighting vaccine hesitancy and misinformation online

During a virtual meeting hosted by Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, a group of vaccine experts and students from the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) discussed vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.

• Watch the recording.
• Read  “8 ways to fight vaccine hesitancy and misinformation online” that resulted from the conversation.

Ava Antibody Explains Your Body and Vaccines, a new children’s book

If you have a young child in your life, you may want to check out this new story written by Andrea Cudd Alemanni. Ava Antibody Explains Your Body and Vaccines introduces children to the concept of antibodies and helps them understand how their bodies fight off infections. The book also introduces how vaccines can prepare their bodies against infections.

Signed copies of the book can be ordered directly from the author’s website, avaantibody.com. The book is also available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

VEC director, Dr. Paul Offit, presents a webinar about COVID-19 vaccine development

Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center (VEC), has been busy during the pandemic. His experience in vaccine development and his expertise in infectious diseases has been invaluable. From interviews with various media outlets to testifying before a congressional committee, he has been working to ensure that COVID-19 vaccine development follows appropriate processes and is transparent.

Recently, Dr. Offit described the state of vaccine development in a webinar for healthcare providers, including the changes that were made to the vaccine development timeline and the different types of vaccines being evaluated. The recording is available for anyone interested in learning more. Users will need to “register” in order to gain instant access to the free recording.

The VEC has also developed a page that answers common questions related to COVID-19 vaccines, CovidVaccineAnswers.org. The page has sections related to COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine studies, vaccine availability, vaccine safety and vaccine news, and is updated regularly as new information become available. If you don’t see your question, you can submit it through an online form.