With children 12 years of age and older eligible for COVID-19 vaccination and families gearing up for the start of a new school season, the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project convened a webinar intended to answer commons questions about the vaccine and provide parents with the information they need to include vaccination as part of their school-ready checklist on August 3^rd.

Confirmed participants included:

• Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor on COVID-19 to the president
• Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration
• Dr. Lee Savio Beers, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, professor of Pediatrics and the medical director for Community Health and Advocacy at Children’s National Hospital
• Linda Mendonca, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC, NCSN, FNASN, President of the National Association of School Nurses
• Karyne Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. and co-convener of the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Equity Project
• Sue Peschin, President and CEO of Alliance for Aging Research and co-convener of the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Equity Project

With summer camps, sports leagues and the rollout of vaccines for adolescents underway across the country, the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project convened a discussion around building confidence in and ways to increase access to vaccines for children age 12-17 on July 1st.

Speakers included:

• Laura Blaisdell, MD/MPH, FAAP, Medical Director at Camp Winnebago, Vice President of Maine AAP and founding member of Maine Families for Vaccines
• Dr. Amanda Cohn, Chief Medical Officer of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Executive Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; CAPT, US Public Health Service
• Jessica Gamaché, Director, United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries Association

Sue Peschin, President and CEO of Alliance for Aging Research and co-convener of the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Equity Project moderated the discussion.

Watch the “Exploring the COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Approval Process for Adolescents” webinar featuring a panel of pediatric and family medicine experts discussing how the clinical trials were done for 12-15 year-olds, the regulatory approval process that was followed and addressing parents’ top questions to help build confidence in the vaccine for adolescents. Panelists included:

• Dr. Peter Marks: director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration
• Dr. Ada D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP, a family physician with Cooperative Health in Columbia, South Carolina, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians
• Patsy Stinchfield, MS, CPNP, past voting member and current liaison to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) representing the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), President-Elect of National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

Beth Battaglino, RN-C, CEO of HealthyWomen and a co-convener of the project moderated this discussion.