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Webinar video now available - Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine program reset: navigating safety, acceptance and uptake

This webinar was held on 30 April as part of the 2021 NCIRS COVID-19 vaccine webinar series.

View the video of this webinar to:

  • hear an update on the Australian Government COVID-19 vaccine roll out plan and what this means for immunisation providers
  • get further information on thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine
  • learn practical strategies for communicating with your patients to increase vaccine acceptance and uptake
  • have your questions answered by our panel of social scientists, medical specialists and general practitioners. 

Speakers:

Portrait of Professor Kristine MacartneyProfessor Kristine Macartney
Director – NCIRS
Paediatrician & Infectious Disease Specialist

Kristine is a medical graduate of the University of NSW and has almost 20 years of experience in vaccinology. She has experience working in the USA at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she was a founding member of the US Vaccine Education Center. Her Doctorate of Medicine was on rotavirus infection, in particular the mucosal immune response to novel vaccine candidates. 

Kristine is interested in all aspects of vaccine preventable disease research, particularly policy development, vaccine safety and prevention of viral diseases. She is the Senior Editor of The Australian Immunisation Handbook. Kristine has a clinical appointment at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead as a Staff Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and a conjoint academic appointment as Professor in the Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney.

Portrait of Dr Penny BurnsDr Penny Burns
Disaster Medicine Specialist and General Practitioner

Penny is a general practitioner (GP) currently working at the Northern Beaches Hospital Medical Centre which is delivering AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and the Dee Why General Practice Respiratory Clinic. She also recently worked at the Westmead Pfizer vaccination hub.

Dr Burns has a number of interests, most notably in the role of GPs in disasters and pandemics which she has been researching for the last decade. She is an associate professor at the Australian National University and a senior lecturer at University of Western Sydney where she teaches disaster management to medical students.

Dr Burns also contributes to the National COVID-19 Evidence Taskforce, the RACGP COVID Working Group, COVID Healthpathways, and ATAGI’s COVID working group. 

Portrait of Professor Julie-Anne Leask

Professor Julie Leask
Professor, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery
Visiting Fellow, NCIRS

Julie Leask is a social scientist specialising in immunisation and professor in the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney.

With a background in nursing and midwifery, she has a Master of Public Health (1998) and PhD (2002) from the University of Sydney. She is a visiting professorial fellow at NCIRS.

Julie’s current research focuses on the social and behavioural aspects of vaccination uptake, programs and policy. She is chair of the WHO working group on Measuring Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination and conducts research with the US CDC and UNICEF. She is a member of the Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance and the Expert Advisory Group for Australia’s Regional (COVID-19) Vaccine Access and Health Security Initiative.

She gave the Basil Hetzel Oration for the Public Health Association of Australia conference in 2020, with a talk entitled, “Ask The Community”. Julie was named overall winner of the Australian Financial Review 100 Woman of Influence in 2019. 

Also hear from:
  • Associate Professor Nicholas Wood Associate Director, Clinical Research & Services, NCIRS - Webinar Chair and Q&A panel
  • Dr Ketaki Sharma, Staff Specialist, NCIRS - Q&A moderator

  • Associate Professor Margie Danchin, Group Leader, Vaccine Uptake, MCRI - Q&A Panelist

  • Dr Kasia Bolsewicz, Research Fellow, Social Science, NCIRS - Q&A Panelist