Experts explore vaccines: Science, legal, social issues at New York Academy of Sciences

A March 29 symposium at the New York Academy of Sciences, "Vaccines Under the Gun: Politics, Science, Media and the Law," will feature a presentation by Daniel J. Thomasch, JD, national lead trial counsel for Wyeth, who was involved in the case decided by the Supreme Court yesterday in which the justices rejected a lawsuit claiming injury from a Wyeth vaccine.

The case, Bruesewitz vs Wyeth, was brought by the parents of a child who has suffered seizures and developmental problems since being vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis in 1992. The case is not the first to have underscored the current public mood of mistrust about vaccines. Recent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases have shown that as more children remain unvaccinated, community immunity has broken down.

The Academy symposium will also feature international expert Paul Offit, MD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Trine Tsouderos, an award-winning science and medical reporter at the Chicago Tribune. They will examine historical approaches to vaccination, the evolution and use of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, community-wide and personal safety considerations, social implications of these decisions, and the impact of recent arbitration, in this fast-evolving field, from a scientific, legal, and social perspective. The symposium will include a panel discussion, moderated by Perri Klass, MD, Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University.

WHAT:
Vaccines Under the Gun: Politics, Science, Media and the Law

WHO:

Speakers:

Paul Offit, MD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Dan Thomasch, JD

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Trine Tsouderos, award-winning science & medical reporter

Chicago Tribune

Moderator:

Perri Klass, MD, New York University

WHEN:
Monday, March 28, 2010 | 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

WHERE:

The New York Academy of Sciences

7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St., 40th floor, New York, NY

This symposium is presented by the New York Academy of Sciences' Vaccine Science Discussion Group. For more information see www.nyas.org/VaccineLaw.

Provided by New York Academy of Sciences