In a season that’s usually dominated by the Flu, this year we find ourselves looking at a full menu of vaccine options. There’s the Flu shot. COVID boosters. Vaccines for Monkeypox, Shingles, and Polio .. and who knows what’s next. 

Dr. Ruth Karron knows. Fair Media Council CEO and Executive Director Jaci Clement chats with this global health expert and Director of the Johns Hopkins Vaccine Initiative about the safety of all of these vaccines for adults — and children, too! — and explores common misconceptions and misinformation dispensed through mainstream media.

ABOUT RUTH KARRON, M.D.

Ruth Karron, M.D., is a Professor of International Health in the Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Karron is a pediatric infectious diseases physician, virologist, and vaccinologist, and is Director of the Johns Hopkins Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Karron has substantial experience in the evaluation of respiratory virus vaccines in adult and pediatric populations. 

Dr. Karron’s research interests also include the development of immune responses to respiratory viral infections in early life, the epidemiology of RSV and other respiratory viral diseases in low resource settings, and public policy and ethical issues related to vaccine development and distribution. She co-led the Pregnancy Research Ethics for Vaccines, Epidemics, and New Technologies (PREVENT) Working Group, which released “Pregnant Woman & Vaccines Against Emerging Epidemic Threats: Ethics Guidance for Preparedness, Research and Response”, a guidance document with specific actionable recommendations to ensure that pregnant women are no longer excluded from receiving vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, and was co-developer of the COVID-19 Maternal Immunization Tracker (www.comitglobal.org ).

Dr. Karron has been a member of a number of national and international vaccine advisory committees and panels, including the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the Gavi Vaccine Innovation Prioritisation Steering Committee (VIPS), and the COVAX ACT-accelerator COVID vaccine Maternal Immunization Working Group, and has chaired the FDA Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and the Vaccines Advisory Panel for the Wellcome Trust. She is currently deputy chair of the WHO Product Development for Vaccines Advisory Committee (PDVAC). In 2016, Dr. Karron received the Robert M. Chanock award for outstanding contributions to RSV research.

ABOUT FMC FAST CHAT

FMC Fast Chat is the podcast of the Fair Media Council, a 501c3 nonprofit organization advocating for quality news and working to create a media-savvy society. Notables in media, news and business are regularly interviewed on the FMC Fast Chat podcast. Please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Guest inquiries: [email protected]

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