Immunization Conference in Pittsburgh

The Allegheny County Health Department hosted an immunization conference for health professionals on the South Side on Thursday. Over 230 people attended.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She said with all of the vaccines there are great opportunities for prevention and for less disease but also more complexity for doctors and patients. She says there is also the challenge of overcoming complacency. Because so many diseases, such as polio, are nearly non-existent, people tend to think vaccines are not very important.

She said people of all ages should be aware of vaccine requirements and recommended a whopping cough booster for all adults. There has been a whopping cough epidemic in California.

Under the affordable care act, also known as health reform, there are provisions for vaccines that are routinely recommended by CDC’s Advisory committee to be covered without a co-payment by the insurance companies.