As Measles Surges in Pennsylvania, Penn Hosts Vaccine Conversation From Measles to mRNA
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House will host a public conversation Oct. 27 on the history and future of vaccines and public health in America, part of Penn’s commemoration of the nation’s 250th birthday.
“From Measles to mRNA: American Efforts in Vaccines and Public Health” runs from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Perry World House, 3803 Locust Walk. Admission is free, with registration through Eventbrite.
The discussion will range from Philadelphia’s early role in American medicine — home to the nation’s first medical school and hospital, and the city struck by the 1793 yellow fever epidemic — to local research breakthroughs including vaccines for rubella, rotavirus and rabies and the mRNA technology behind the COVID-19 vaccines.
The conversation lands as measles roars back in Pennsylvania. State health officials say more than 1,000 cases have been recorded this year, the largest state outbreak in more than three decades, with 198 hospitalizations and five deaths, the Associated Press reported. Chester County, west of Philadelphia, is the only county in the region with active spread, and possible exposures were reported last month at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Philadelphia International Airport.
The two headliners bring the government’s and the laboratory’s sides of the vaccine story. Nicole Lurie leads preparedness and response at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the global organization that bankrolled much of the world’s COVID-19 vaccine research, and serves as its U.S. director. Before that, she spent eight years as the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a presidential appointment in which she ran the federal response to health emergencies including the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.
Paul Offit directs the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and holds Penn’s Maurice R. Hilleman Professorship of Vaccinology. A pediatrician and internationally known virologist, he co-invented RotaTeq, the rotavirus vaccine now given routinely to infants worldwide, and has become one of the country’s most prominent public voices explaining vaccine science.
WHYY’s Maiken Scott, host and executive producer of the health and science show “The Pulse,” will moderate the conversation. Vice Provost Ezekiel Emanuel will give introductory remarks.
Before and after the discussion, Perry World House will host a free flu shot clinic. A reception will follow the program.