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ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) are holding a live webinar on vaccinations for adolescents.
Titled “Vaccines for Preteens and Teens: The Importance of Timely Vaccination for All Adolescents,” the webinar will be presented on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at noon ET. The webinar, initially accredited for physicians, is now available to pharmacists because of the NACDS and NFID partnership. Those interested in participating can register online.
In the webinar, William Schaffner, M.D., NFID’s medical director, will be joined by panelists Joseph Bocchini Jr., M.D., NFID president-elect; Lisa Ipp, M.D., associate director of adolescent medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; and Amy Middleman, M.D., MSEd, MPH, chief of the section of adolescent medicine at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
The webinar coincides with National Immunization Awareness Month in August and reflects the work of NACDS and NFID to promote the public health benefits of immunizations. Timely adolescent vaccinations deemed essential for protection from preventable cancers, meningitis and other serious diseases.
Efforts to boost awareness of the need for timely adolescent immunizations stem from a report that arose from a discussion convened by NFID in February.
“NACDS is really pleased to be able to partner with NFID on this important initiative. It has the potential to leverage even further the role of pharmacists as convenient access points for vaccinations and as sources of information about important health topics. Particularly since the H1N1 influenza outbreak of 2009, the public health community recognized the important role of using pharmacists to assure pandemic preparedness as well as to foster ongoing healthcare access,” NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson said in a statement.
“I hope the pharmacy community and our allies in public health will share the information about the live webinar event and about the enduring education opportunity, so as many pharmacists as possible can benefit from this program,” he added.
The webinar and continuing education credits are open to all parties. The program provides one hour of CE credit, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). After the live webinar, the program will be available on NACDS’ and NFID’s web portals.
“NFID is pleased to partner with NACDS to share this important resource and to further our joint commitment to protecting the public against vaccine-preventable diseases,” stated NFID CEO and executive director Marla Dalton. “Working collaboratively with other related organizations and speaking with ‘one strong voice’ allows us all to have a greater impact on patient care and, ultimately, public health.”
