Don’t miss this opportunity to get up to speed before the March 18-19 CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting. This webinar, co-hosted by the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team and the Association of Health Care Journalists, will provide independent, evidence-based discussion of topics expected to come up during the meeting.
These items include vaccine safety and quality monitoring, data on COVID vaccine safety, possible recommendation votes related to COVID vaccine injuries, and other issues, such as the evidence framework the CDC uses to assess vaccine data and the risk/benefit analysis of vaccines. We will also discuss other emerging topics that may arise before the meeting.
Whether you’re a journalist covering immunization policy, a public health professional navigating a rapidly shifting vaccine landscape, or a researcher tracking the latest safety data, this webinar will help equip you with the scientific context you need to understand what’s at stake. The panel of senior vaccine scientists — including Norman Baylor, Ph.D., Miles Braun, M.D., Fiona Havers, M.D., and Paul Offit, M.D. — will cut through the noise and offer clear, unbiased analysis.
March 17 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Tara Haelle
AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases and Medical Studies
Tara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others.
She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.
Norman W. Baylor, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Biologics Consulting Group
Dr. Norman W. Baylor is an expert in the development and licensure of new vaccines, evaluating numerous vaccines throughout his career including vaccines for acellular pertussis, varicella, pneumococcal conjugate, human papillomavirus (HPV), influenza and shingles. He is currently the president and CEO of Biologics Consulting Group, Inc, where he is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the company.
Prior to this, he spent 20 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most recently as Director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR) in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). In this role, he oversaw all facets of the clinical and product regulatory review activity, including quality assurance and oversight of review functions in addition to planning, developing and administering CBER’s broad national and international programs and operational activities for vaccines and related products. Dr. Baylor served as FDA’s liaison to CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. He served on the board of the Infectious Disease Research Institute and continues to serve as an expert advisor to the World Health Organization on several global vaccine initiatives.
Fiona P. Havers, M.D.
Adjunct associate professor, Emory University School of Medicine
Fiona Havers, MD, MHS, FIDSA, is an infectious diseases physician and former medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Havers is a senior subject matter expert on vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases and vaccine policy. She was the CDC lead of the Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RESP-NET) Team in the Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division within the U.S. CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Dr. Havers oversaw the COVID-19 and RSV platforms within RESP-NET, a population-based surveillance platform that covers ~9% of the US population and collects data on COVID-19, RSV, and influenza-associated hospitalizations. Dr. Havers left CDC in June 2025.
The author of >100 publications while at CDC, Dr. Havers’ research interests have focused on the epidemiology, prevention, treatment and vaccine policy for vaccine-preventable respiratory pathogens, including influenza, pertussis, RSV and SARS-CoV-2. She was previously the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Work Group lead for the Pertussis Vaccines Work Group and has worked extensively on COVID-19 and adult RSV vaccine policy, including as senior author on the initial adult RSV vaccine ACIP policy recommendations published in 2023.
Paul A. Offit, M.D.
Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center
Paul A. Offit, M.D., is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit is currently a voting member on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee and has previously served on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC in 2006 and by the WHO in 2013. This vaccine was estimated recently to save about 165,000 lives a year. He is also the author of 11 books written for the public about science, medicine, and vaccines.
M. Miles Braun, M.D.
Adjunct professor, Georgetown University School of Medicine
In April 2018, M. Miles Braun MD MPH, was appointed Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Braun directs a new educational initiative to bring integrative approaches to optimize health and quality of life of adolescent and young adult cancer patients, survivors and caregivers. Integrative approaches include mind and body practices, natural products and lifestyle modifications.
Dr. Braun is board-certified in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine. He served for 20 years as a medical officer in the US Public Health Service (USPHS), including at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he was for more than 8 years Director of the Division of Epidemiology in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He has received more than 20 USPHS awards and authored or co-authored well over 100 scientfic-medical publications, including multiple studies with important clinical impact and epidemiological studies on the causes of various cancers. Dr. Braun has practiced yoga (including meditation) for 25 years, is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance (RYT200), has completed multiple trainings and has extensive personal experience with integrative approaches.