Arlington, Va. – The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) is collaborating with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) to present a live webinar, “Vaccines for Preteens and Teens: The Importance of Timely Vaccination for All Adolescents,” on Tuesday, August 23, at 12:00 noon (EDT). Registration is necessary to participate.
Initially accredited for physicians, the webinar now is available to pharmacists as a result of the NACDS and NFID partnership. The webinar and continuing education (CE) credits are open to all interested parties. One hour of CE credit will be available for this program, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Following the live webinar, the program will be available on NACDS’ and NFID’s web portals as enduring education.
The webinar coincides with the observance of August as National Immunization Awareness Month, and reflects NACDS’ and NFID’s consistent work to promote the public health benefits of vaccinations. Timely adolescent vaccinations are essential for protection from preventable cancers, meningitis and other serious diseases. The increased efforts to raise awareness of the importance of timely adolescent vaccinations are a result of a report created from a discussion convened by NFID in February 2016.
“NACDS is really pleased to be able to partner with NFID on this important initiative. It has the potential to leverage even further the role of pharmacists as convenient access points for vaccinations and as sources of information about important health topics,” said NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. “Particularly since the H1N1 influenza outbreak of 2009, the public health community recognized the important role of using pharmacists to assure pandemic preparedness as well as to foster ongoing healthcare access.
“I hope the pharmacy community and our allies in public health will share the information about the live webinar event and about the enduring education opportunity, so as many pharmacists as possible can benefit from this program.”
“NFID is pleased to partner with NACDS to share this important resource and to further our joint commitment to protecting the public against vaccine-preventable diseases. Working collaboratively with other related organizations and speaking with ‘one strong voice,’ allows us all to have a greater impact on patient care and ultimately, public health,” said NFID CEO and Executive Director Marla Dalton, CAE, IOM, PE.
On the webinar, William Schaffner MD, NFID medical director, will be joined by panelists Joseph A. Bocchini, Jr., MD, NFID President-Elect; Lisa S. Ipp, MD, associate director of adolescent medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; and Amy B. Middleman, MD, MSEd, MPH, chief of the Section of Adolescent Medicine at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
NACDS’ announcement of its collaboration with NFID on this program follows NACDS’ announcement last month of the launch of three demonstration projects that aim to foster healthcare collaboration across the care continuum to increase pharmacy-based immunizations. The demonstration projects are partially funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant, details of which can be found in the announcement.
