January 23, 2008 -- The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases sponsored a press conference this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on the topic of adult immunization.  The main theme of the press conference was that vaccine-preventable diseases have serious consequences in adults.  Data from the National Immunization Survey on the national adult vaccination rates were also presented at this meeting (State level data will be available in a few months). 

Presenting at the meeting was Anne Schuchat, MD, Director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Michael N. Oxman, MD, Professor, University of California, San Diego; Staff Physician at the San Diego VA Medical Center; Stanley A. Gall, MD, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Liaison Member to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; Kristin L. Nichol, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief of Medicine, Minneapolis VA Medical Center and Professor of Medicine and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota; Dr. Robert Hopkins, Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science and a member of the Adult Immunization Advisory Board of the American College of Physicians and the organization's Arkansas Chapter Governor; and, Dr. Mark Dworkin from the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of  Public Health.

New Data Show Unacceptably Low Adult Immunization Rates and That Adults Unaware of Infectious Disease Threat