12/02/2021 - Out of the starting blocks: COVID-19 vaccination program in Australia - Part 1

Hosted in partnership with the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Vaccination Special Interest Group and The University of Sydney.

This webinar, held on 12 February 2021, was the first in the two-part webinar series in preparation for the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines in Australia.

View the video of this webinar to hear from:

• Dr William C. Gruber, Senior Vice President of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development, who spoke about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 
• Professor Katie Flanagan, who provided an update on clinical advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI)
• Dr Megan Hickie, Senior Medical Officer and Associate Professor Michael Nissen, Director, Vaccines Surveillance Section, Pharmacovigilance and Special Access Branch, Therapeutic Goods Administration, who spoke about Australia's national COVID-19 vaccine pharmacovigilance plan.

Video:

Speakers:

William C. (Bill) Gruber
Senior Vice President Vaccine Clinical Research and Development, WRDM, Pfizer Inc.

Bill Gruber is Senior Vice President of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development, and responsible for global clinical research and development of vaccines to meet licensure and post licensure requirements. He has over 35 years of experience in vaccine development, including more than 21 years at Pfizer, Inc. and Wyeth. Vaccines investigated or approved include: pneumococcal conjugate, meningococcal conjugate, meningococcal B,  influenza, Staph aureus, C. difficile, HIV, RSV, parainfluenza, Group B streptococcus,  Lyme, and COVID-19. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, with authorship of over 200 articles and book chapters.

Professor Katie Flanagan
Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), Head of Infectious Diseases, Launceston General Hospital

Katie Flanagan is a clinician scientist who has worked on global health issues for more than 25 years. She has led numerous vaccine immunology trials throughout the world.  She has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) since 2019 and currently leads the ATAGI COVID-19 Vaccine Utilisation and Prioritisation Subgroup. 

Out of the starting blocks: COVID-19 vaccination program in Australia – part 2 - view here