From Smallpox to Chickenpox:
Infant Immunization Then and Now
April 15, 2003

Jump to a Speaker or Section:

Session Summary

Welcome (Joseph DiMino, English Willis, James Lutz)

The Value of Vaccines (Deborah Alfano)

Vaccine Success (Barbara Watson)

Childhood Immunization Challenges (Lance Rodewald)

Session Summary

On April 15, 2003 Maternity Care Coalition hosted "From Smallpox to Chickenpox: Infant Immunization Then and Now," the second session of its 2003 Professional Education Series. At the session, speakers discussed the many aspects of infant immunization, from the history of vaccines to addressing consumer concerns, to the newest medical developments in immunization and disease control.

Welcome
Dr. Joseph DiMino, Montgomery County Health Department
English Willis, Maternity Care Coalition Board of Directors, and Crozer Chester Medical Center
James Lutz, Philadelphia Department of Public Health

Dr. Joseph DiMino, Director of Health for the Montgomery County (PA) Health Department, introduced the morning session. Dr. DiMino discussed the importance of immunization, sharing his own personal stories serving as a doctor in Vietnam and highlighting a recent measles outbreak in Valley Forge and his current efforts to halt the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases among diverse constituents in Montgomery County.

Dr. DiMino's introduction was followed by remarks from Dr. English Willis, Pediatric Residency Program Director, Crozer Chester Medical Center and MCC Board Member. Dr. Willis encouraged doctors and public health officials to continue to struggle to make vaccines available to everyone. Lack of insurance, cost cutting measures in medical administration, and the continued proliferation of vaccine myths are all barriers that prevent universal immunization. According to Dr. Willis, Maternity Care Coalition's grant from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the CDC to provide education on immunizations to residents of the East and West Oak Lane, Germantown, and Lower Northeast sections of Philadelphia is a prime example of the type of personalized, creative, intensive outreach effort that is needed to ensure that underserved populations are fully immunized.

James Lutz, the Immunization Program Manager for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Division of Disease Control and the session's moderator, introduced the speakers. Mr. Lutz noted that the speakers are nationally-known experts in the immunization field, who are also working on an issue that has enormous national and international implications. In the United States, racial minorities have a 20% lower rate of vaccination than the white population, while measles, a vaccine preventable disease, is responsible for over 1 million deaths annually across the world. Community groups such as MCC, according to Mr. Lutz, can be the force to move vaccines into the areas that need them most.

The Value of Vaccines
Deborah Alfano, Merck & Co.

The first speaker, Deborah Alfano, Director of Health Policy and External Affairs for Merck's Vaccine Division, gave a personal, hostorical perspective on the importnace of immunizations. She began by discussing her own motivations for working in the immunization field at Merck, citing Merck's commitment to enhancing public health by controlling vaccine-preventable diseases. Ms. Alfano argued that vaccination is the top public health achievement of the last century. She shared a letter that her husband's father wrote to his family, chronicling his families history and the devastating effects of diseases such as the flu and tetanus on his family before vaccines were available. She spoke about the diseases that she had as a child that her granddaughter will never contract, thanks to vaccinations. Barriers to universal coverage in the United States remain. While most states have legislation requiring vaccinations, half of the country allows for philosophical exemptions from vaccinations, making universal vacination virtually impossible in those states. By creating and environment that values and supports vaccines, Ms. Alfano hopes that we can immunize everyone against vaccine-preventable diseases and pave the way for new vaccines against diseases such as HPV, rotavirus, shingles, and HIV.

Vaccine Success: Improvements and Future Disease Prevention
Barbara Watson, Philadelphia Department of Public Health

Barbara Watson, Medical Specialist for the Immunization Program of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, gave the second presentation, titled "Vaccines Successes: Improvements and the Future of Disease Prevention." In her presentation, Dr. Watson outlined some of the concerns and improvements in vaccine safety and effectiveness. For example, the acellular pertussis vaccine (DtaP) and the safer polio vaccine (IPV) both greatly reduce potential side-effects. Dr. Watson described common myths she must address such as explaining that there is no scientifically documented link between the MMR vaccine and autism, and that a vaccine has fewer antigens than the common cold. She detailed the extensive safety testing applied to all new vaccines, and advocated that an immunization registry would provide essential information on pockets of people who may be immunization-delayed. Dr. Watson pointed out that more people die yearly in such routine activities as bathing or choking incidents than from receiving vaccinations. Vaccines present miniscule risk compared to their societal and scientific benefits.

Childhood Immunization Challenges: A National Perspective
Dr. Lance Rodewald, National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The final speaker was Dr. Lance Rodewald, Director of the Immunization Services Division in the National Immunization Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In his presentation, "Vaccinating Vulnerable Children: New Tools, Opportunities, and Challenges, " Dr. Rodewald described the vaccination schedule for children under the age of two, and the incredible decrease in diseases due to the higher immunization coverage of babies and toddlers. He detailed new developments, such as the pentavalent vaccine, that will decrease the number of injections that children must receive. Dr. Rodewald explained the reasons for requiring a Hepatitis B birth dose and providing the influenza vaccine to pregnant women and babies between the ages of six and twenty-three months. He also detailed the importance of Vaccines for Children, a national program started in 1994 that seeks to provide vaccines to uninsured clients, and build a six-month national stockpile of vaccines. Dr. Rodewald closed by explaining that while the debate on smallpox and bioterrorism rages, the current challenge in immunization is to continue vaccinating for the diseases that are affecting people across the globe.