President-elect Trump’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could significantly impact the perception and uptake of vaccines. Whether he or any of Trump’s other vaccine-skeptical nominees receive Senate confirmation, signs suggest the incoming administration may attempt to change long-established vaccine policy in the U.S.
This webinar will cover the ins and outs of how vaccines are approved and recommended, how vaccine injuries are adjudicated and compensated, and the powers of the HHS Secretary over those procedures. We’ll cover what the secretary has the power to undo, what checks and balances exist on those powers, and what the potential consequences of those actions could be.
Led by AHCJ Health Beat leader for infectious disease Tara Haelle, this webinar will prepare reporters for anticipating possible policy moves in the new administration.
Moderator
Tara Haelle
Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases, AHCJ
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 diseases, 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.
Paul A. Offit, M.D.
Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education CenterMaurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, University of PennsylvaniaPaul 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.  
Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, LLB, Ph.D.
James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation, UC Law San FranciscoDorit Rubinstein Reiss, LLB, Ph.D.  is a professor of law and the James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). She specializes in vaccine law and policy, including exemption laws and tort liability related to non-vaccination. She also teaches administrative law and public health law. She published in law reviews, peer-reviewed journals and blogs on legal and policy issues related to vaccines and co-authored a book on Vaccines Law and Policy with Professor Y. Tony Yang.