Building confidence in vaccines: A free MJH Life Sciences COVID-19 Coalition webinar

The development and release of COVID-19 vaccines is changing the dynamic of the pandemic, but resistance to receiving the shots has impeded its progress.

Vaccine hesitancy has been whipped into a pandemic of its own fueled by misinformation and mistrust. The medical community is best placed to restore trust and confidence, but they must first explore what causes this hesitancy; from the psychology of decision-making and messaging to strategies for boosting vaccine confidence on the front lines and among at-risk populations.

The next free MJH Life Sciences COVID-19 Coalition live webinar will focus on just that at 2 p.m. EST, March 9.

Click here to sign up for the FREE webinar.

This live webinar event is co-hosted by the International Society for Vaccines and the MJH Life Sciences COVID-19 Coalition and will feature experts on issues driving vaccine hesitancy and waits to combat it.

The participants this this webinar will be:

• Heidi J. Larson, PhD – An anthropologist and Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project™ (VCP); Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science, Dept. Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Clinical Professor, Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle; Guest Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and the National University of Singapore. Dr. Larson previously headed Global Immunization Communication at UNICEF, chaired Gavi’s Advocacy Task Force, and served on the WHO SAGE Working Group on vaccine hesitancy.
• Wolfgang Gaissmaier, PhD – A full professor of social psychology and decision sciences at the University of Konstanz, Germany, since 2014. His research investigates how people make decisions under uncertainty and how risks can be communicated more successfully to help people make better decisions, particularly in medicine. He received his PhD in 2007 (Free University Berlin) and his habilitation (venia legendi) in 2013 (University of Heidelberg). For many years, he worked as Chief Research Scientist at the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin. Gaissmaier’s work has been published in leading psychological and medical journals, including Annals of Internal Medicine, Annual Review of Psychology, Cognition, Health Psychology, JAMA, PNAS, and Psychological Science.
• Marie Brown, MD – AN Internal Medicine Specialist, Director of Practice Redesign for the American Medical Association, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College, and past governor of the American College of Physicians (ACP). She has practiced as an internist for over 30 years at FQHCs, private practice and a large integrated center. Brown is a frequent guest lecturer at academic, national and international health care conferences. Her areas of expertise and publications include: adult immunizations, practice efficiency, joy in medicine, medication adherence and diabetes. Brown received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Dayton and her medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago.
• Samantha Artiga – Vice President and Director of the Racial Equity and Health Policy Program at KFF. In this role, Artiga leads KFF’s work to provide timely and reliable data, information, and policy analysis on health and health care disparities affecting people of color and underserved groups and efforts to advance racial equity in health and health care. Her work focuses on the intersection of racism and discrimination, social and economic inequities, and health. She also has conducted extensive work related to the health and health care needs of low-income populations and immigrant families and previously served as Associate Director of KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Artiga holds a master’s degree in health policy from the George Washington University.