2021 Adult Immunisation Forum

The 5th Adult Immunisation Forum was held as a virtual event on Monday 28th June 2021 and the recordings are available to view here.

Immunisation Coalition

Forum aims

The 5th Adult Immunisation Forum was held as a virtual event on Monday 28th June 2021.

This one day event continues to build on the aims:

  • To better understand the burden of vaccine preventable diseases in adults
  • To build an awareness of the challenges and strategies for improved vaccination in adults
  • To hear the latest developments in vaccine programs for adults
  • To consider ways of improving knowledge about immunisation best practice

with particular interest to health professionals, immunisation specialists, policy makers and anyone else working on the front line of public health.

Session 1: COVID vaccine - Community response; Innovations in vaccine design; COVID-19 update

 

COVID vaccine – Community response:

Innovations in vaccine design:

  • Presented by Paul Griffin
  • Presentation begins at 30:30 minutes into the recording

COVID-19 update:

Q&A for the above presentations:

  • Questions begin at 1:11:00 into the recording
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Dr Jessica Kaufman

Dr Jessica Kaufman is a Research Fellow in the Vaccine Uptake group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her current research focuses on interventions and policies to increase acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and improve routine vaccine uptake in pregnant women, children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and people of refugee background. She is also involved in mapping and designing measurement instruments to diagnose the reasons for under-vaccination. Jessica is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University, a member of the steering committee for the Collaboration on Social Science in Immunisation (COSSI) network, and an editor with the Cochrane Consumers and Communication review group.


Professor Paul Griffin

An Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist, Dr Paul Griffin was appointed as the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in 2013. In addition, Dr Griffin continues appointments as Principal Investigator at Q-Pharm, as Visiting Scientist/Honorary Research Fellow at Mater Medical Research Institute and Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and also as Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland.

Dr Paul Griffin’s primary research interests include clinical trials in the field of infectious diseases particularly malaria human challenge and transmission blocking studies, as well as the detection of antibiotic resistance particularly VRE by mass spectrometry in the clinical microbiology laboratory.


Professor Dominic Dwyer

Professor Dwyer is a microbiologist and Director of our Pathology West network. He trained in microbiology (virology and infectious diseases) at Westmead Hospital’s Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) in 1986 and became a medical microbiologist in 1997.   In 2009, Professor Dwyer was appointed Director and Senior Medical Virologist for ICPMR’s Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services. He is currently a Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney’s Western Clinical School and recently spent 12 months as a visiting academic in the Service des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales at the Hopital Saint-Louis, a public teaching hospital in Paris.

Session 2: Nanopatch technology; Influenza VE in the elderly; Aged care update

Nanopatch technology:

  • Presented by Robert Booy
  • Presentation begins at the start of the recording

Influenza VE in the elderly:

Aged care update:

Q&A for the above presentations:

  • Questions begin at
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Prof Robert Booy

Professor Robert Booy

Professor Robert Booy is an infectious diseases paediatrician. Since 2005 he has worked at the University of Sydney in the fields of vaccinology, epidemiology and infectious diseases. He is currently a Senior Professorial Fellow at the University of Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School. From 2005 to 2019 he held the position of Head of Clinical Research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) at Westmead Children’s Hospital and remains an Affiliate of NCIRS.


Professor Stefan Gravenstein

An  academic geriatrician, former John Franklin Chair of Geriatrics and Director of the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at Eastern Virginia Medical School (1996-2007), and Director of Center for Geriatrics and Palliative Care at University Hospitals in Cleveland (2014-2017), he now serves as the David S. Greer Professor of Geriatrics and as the Director, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in the departments of Medicine at the Alpert Medical School, Professor of Health Services Policy and Practice at Brown’s school of public health, and Associate Director of the Center on Innovation in Long-Term Services and Supports at the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Gravenstein has a long-standing interest in immunity, inflammation, cardiovascular outcomes and aging especially in the context of vaccines and the long-term care setting, and the topic of the majority of his publications.


Associate Professor Michael Murray

As the Divisional Medical Director of Continued Care, Head of Geriatric Medicine and Medical Lead of Patient Flow at Austin Health, Associate Professor Michael Murray AM brings extensive experience in the health, education and the aged care industry.

With nearly 30 years involvement in geriatric care, Michael’s career highlights include extensive work in continence, public health and public policy, as well as working in education and service development. In 2019 Michael was appointed as the interim Chief Clinical Advisor to the first Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner.  Michael holds several board and committee positions with a variety of health and educational institutions Michael has been the National Chairperson of the Continence Foundation of Australia for several years, prior to which he was the Victorian State President. Michael is the president of the National Ageing Research Institute. Michael was recently appointed as the Geriatrician Lead to the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre (VACRC) for Covid-19.

Session 3: Herpes Zoster; Meningococcal disease in Australia; Pneumococcal disease

Herpes Zoster:

Meningococcal disease in Australia:

  • Presented by Robert Booy – on behalf of Monica Lhara
  • Presentation begins at 22:34 minutes into the recording

Pneumococcal disease:

Pertussis vaccine in over 50s

Q&A for the above presentations:

  • Questions begin at 1 hour and 24:53 minutes (1:24:53) into the recording

COVID-19 – The Indian coal face:

  • Presented by Raja Dhar
  • Presentation begins at 1 hour 53:23 minutes (1:53:23) into the recording
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Professor Tony Cunningham

Professor Anthony (Tony) Cunningham, AO, FAHMS is an infectious diseases physician, clinical virologist and scientist, internationally renowned for his research on the immunobiology of HIV and herpesviruses, his work on vaccine and microbicide development, and as an antivirals expert. He is the Director of the Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis Virology Research (ACH2), a Commonwealth Government-funded institute that aims combat the impact of HIV and hepatitis in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region by bringing together basic researchers with translational scientists and physicians.


Professor Monica Lahra

Professor Lahra is a medical microbiologist and Director of the Division of Bacteriology and the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Sexually Transmitted Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (WHO CC for STI and AMR) New South Wales Health Pathology, Microbiology based at the Prince of Wales Hospital Randwick. She trained in Microbiology at the Prince of Wales Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and became a medical microbiologist in 2005. The WHO CC for STI and AMR is responsible for surveillance programmes for the pathogenic Neisseria spp. nationally and internationally. The WHO CC for STI and AMR is also Australia’s National Focal Point and National Coordinating Centre for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System.


Adjunct Professor Tony Korman

Tony Korman is Director, Monash Infectious Diseases and Director of Microbiology at Monash Health, and Adjunct Clinical Professor, Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University. He is a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).


Professor Mary-Louise McLaws

Mary-Louise is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program Experts Advisory Panel for Infection Prevention and Control Preparedness, Readiness and Response to COVID-19.  For several years she was a short mission World Health Organization Advisor to China and Malaysia for surveillance development. She collaborated with Beijing to review the response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak and healthcare worker safety for the Hong Kong SARS designated hospital. Mary-Louise provided advice for 9 years to the WHO Clean Care is Safer Care Challenge program. She was commissioned by the Commonwealth to review the Pandemic Influenza Infection Control Guidelines for evidence of protection for healthcare workers.


Professor Raja Dhar

Dr Raja Dhar is a Pulmonologist and a Critical Care Specialist with over 15 years of experience.  He currently works at Fortis Hospital Kolkata. After finishing his MD in Respiratory Medicine from Calcutta University Dr. Dhar completed his MRCP and CCT from UK, and FCCP from USA.  He is a member of many medical associations in India and abroad and contributes regularly to several national and international journals.  He currently holds a director role with the Asia Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza (APACI).

Session 4: Introduction to CoRiCal; Improving VCR in adults; PneumoSmart vaccination tool; Needle phobia

Introduction to CoRiCal:

White paper – Improving VCR in adults:

PneumoSmart vaccination tool:

Needle phobia:

Q&A for above presentations:

  • Questions begin at 1 hour and 14:06 minutes (1:14:06) into the recording
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Dr Kirsty Short

Dr. Kirsty Short is an Australia Research Council DECRA research fellow in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia. She completed a PhD in 2013 at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne. In 2013 she was also awarded an NHMRC CJ Martin Early Career Fellowship to go to the Netherlands to work in the Department of Virosciences at Erasmus Medical Centre. She returned to Australia at the end of 2015 and in 2017 she established her independent research group at the University of Queensland. She works on many different aspects of influenza virus pathogenesis, understanding how the flu virus affects different animal species, investigating the role of the immune system in severe flu infections and the interactions between the flu and chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and obesity.


Jennifer Herz

founded Biointelect in 2011 to provide strategic commercialisation services to the biopharmaceutical industry. Jennifer has over twenty years commercial, business development and scientific affairs experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has held a variety of roles with responsibility for Australia, New Zealand, European and International markets.  She was the first Managing Director of Sanofi Pasteur in Australia which was a start-up company and grew significantly over the 6 years of her tenure to be an established major provider of vaccines to the public and private market in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Region. She has previously served on the Board of Medicines Australia where she led industry discussions with government related to the new funding arrangements for vaccines on the PBAC.  She was Senior Director Policy and Market Access for Astra Zeneca in Europe where she was responsible for new product planning with 17 countries as well as part of the international launch team for a new vaccine. In this role she was also active in a variety of European and International Industry Association working groups responsible for policy liaison with health authorities including European Institutions and the WHO. She is a member of the NHMRC’s Health Innovation Advisory Committee, an IMNIS and SPARK mentor, on the Steering Committee of the NHMRC funded Centre of Research Excellence: Policy relevant infectious disease simulation and mathematical modelling (PRISM) and is a member of the Expert Reference Group of the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE).


Angela Newbound

Angela Newbound is an Immunisation Education Consultant based in South Australia, and a member of the Immunisation Coalition. She has been involved in immunisation program delivery in South Australia for 20 years, originally as an immunisation provider and in program coordinator roles within the Divisions of General Practice, SA Health Immunisation Section, the Medicare Local Network and presently the Primary Health Network. Angela provides clinical advice, support and education to a wide range of immunisation providers across South Australia and contributes to the development of immunisation resources to assist providers with challenging aspects of the immunisation program.


Corrie Ackland

Corrie is the Clinical Director and the principal Clinical Psychologist. Corrie holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and Master of Psychology (Clinical) from Western Sydney University. She has experience across psychological presentations and has worked in the area of severe anxiety presentations and phobias for more than 10 years. Before opening Sydney Phobia Clinic, Corrie worked for 8 years as Clinical Psychologist at Sydney Obsessive Compulsive and Anxiety Disorders Practice (SOCAD). As such, OCD and related concerns are still a strong area of practice for Corrie. Corrie is a registered supervisor, providing supervision for anxiety and OCD related presentations, as well as to training psychologists. Currently, Corrie is a PhD candidate at UNSW in the schools of psychology and aviation. Corrie is the national lead clinical psychologist for Flight Experience Global managing the delivery of fear of flying programmes across Australia.

Event support

We thank the following companies for supporting the AIF

Immunisation Coalition Sponsor GSKImmunisation Coalition Sponsor PfizerImmunisation Coalition Sponsor RocheImmunisation Coalition Sponsor SanofiImmunisation Coalition Sponsor Seqirus

Page Published: 28 June 2021 | Page Updated: 1 March 2023