Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Links

• https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/covid-19-vaccine-safety-surveillance-in-canada-tickets-137971742195

Please RSVP to receive email reminders with the livestream link, which registrants will receive TWO HOURS before the event. The webinar will be recorded.

This panel discussion, hosted by the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases, DLSPH, will explore the COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance landscape in Canada, and feature epidemiologists, physicians, and public health officials who are at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance endeavours in Canada.

Vaccines are amongst the most strictly regulated and effective tools used in medicine today. The Public Health Agency of Canada has credited immunization as having saved more lives over the past 50 years, than any other health intervention. As proposed by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC), vaccines have become “a victim of their own success,” and there has been a shift from fear of disease to fear of the safety of vaccines. There is significant misinformation and disinformation regarding vaccine safety, and as a result, some people have concerns about vaccines and are hesitant to have themselves or their families immunized.

What are adverse events following immunization (AEFIs), and how are they monitored? What is the difference between passive and active vaccine safety surveillance? What are the different surveillance systems currently being used in Canada, and who are they led by? What challenges exist for adapting vaccine safety surveillance systems to the COVID-19 context?

This panel discussion, hosted by the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases, DLSPH, is an opportunity to hear from leading epidemiologists, physicians, and public health officials from across Canada, and to contribute to dialogue on this important area.

Panel:

Moderator:

– Dr. Jeff Kwong – Interim Director, Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases, University of Toronto; Professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Speakers:

– Dr. Julie Bettinger – Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Evaluation Center, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia; Epidemiologist, Immunization Monitoring Program, ACTive; Lead Investigator, Canadian National Vaccine Safety (CANVAS) network
– Dr. Karina Top – Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University; Investigator, Canadian Center for Vaccinology; Investigator, Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT); Principal Investigator, Special Immunization Clinic Network in the Canadian Immunization Research Network
– Dr. Sarah Wilson – Assistant Professor, Clinical Public Health and Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Medical Epidemiologist, Communicable Diseases, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Public Health Ontario; Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

The webinar will take place on Zoom on Monday, February 8th 2021 – You will receive a webinar link and password TWO HOURS before the event.

The webinar will be available on the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s YouTube page after the livestream concludes.

Questions? Contact us at cvpd.dlsph@utoronto.ca