Vaccine uptake for influenza, COVID-19, RSV and shingles among adults over age 60 remains low, according to data from the University of Michigan and the CDC. Older adults with multiple chronic conditions are especially vulnerable to these diseases. Meanwhile, emergency department visits and hospitalizations for some of these viruses are increasing, CDC tracking data points to high respiratory virus activity in Alabama and trending upwards in the Pacific Northwest, California, and parts of the south, including Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas. Misinformation, cost and fear of side effects are just a few of the rationales given for not staying up-to-date on these important preventive measures.
In this webinar, experts in epidemiology and infectious disease will review the latest data and immunization trends. We’ll also discuss how these vaccines may provide additional protective benefits beyond preventing severe disease and how journalists can help counter misinformation.
February 26 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST
Liz Seegert
AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Aging
Liz Seegert is AHCJ’s health beat leader on aging. She’s an award-winning, independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy. Seegert is also a contributing writer for Fortune.com, the American Journal of Nursing, and PBS/NextAvenue.org, reporting on myriad health topics, including social determinants of health and women’s health.
She has written for TIME Health, The Wirecutter, Money.com, Medscape, Consumer Reports, The Guardian and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, The Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.
Jennifer Dowd, Ph.D.
Professor of demography and population health and deputy director, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford
Dr. Jenn Dowd has training in Demography, Economics, and Epidemiology, earning a PhD from Princeton University and a postdoctoral fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Michigan.
Jenn’s academic work focuses on statistical analysis of large datasets to better understand population health and mortality. She is interested in how the economic and social world “gets under the skin” to impact our biology. This has included deep dives into the biology of stress, infections and immune function, and the human microbiome. In a currently funded 5-year project from the European Research Council (ERC), she explores reasons underlying stalling life expectancy in the U.S. and Europe.
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Preeti Malani, M.D., MSJ
Professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases, Michigan Medicine
Malani’s research interests focus on at the intersection of infections and aging. She is deputy editor and director of editorial equity for JAMA and the JAMA Network and previously served as the University of Michigan’s chief health officer and as a member of Michigan’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Task Force during the height of the pandemic.