Circulating poliovirus in the global north: How can research inform policy responses?
This event will be the first of a ‘Policy Seminar Series’ that the Vaccine Centre are launching. The purpose of these events is to present case studies that demonstrate how research can inform public health policy. All of the seminars will address this question and some will provide more detail on theoretical and practical approaches (policy analysis, including policy considerations in research protocols). This first event will be a reflection on how surveillance data and research supported the management of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Israel and the UK.
In 2022, public health agencies in the global north reported genetically linked detections of poliovirus as well as confirmed cases of paralysis in unvaccinated children and adults. The United Kingdom, United States and Israel met the World Health Organization definition of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in September 2022, and were considered ‘infected’ with cVDPV2 in November 2022. The spread of cVDPV2 in the global north was unprecedented, and each affected country implemented a different public health response. In this seminar, we will learn how research and surveillance informed country policy responses, discuss shared experience and consider lessons for ongoing and future public health practice.
Please note the main event will take place in John Snow Theatre A followed by an informal drinks reception in Rose Room (LG6&7).
Speakers
- Dr Kathleen O’Reilly, LSHTM
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Dr Kathleen O’Reilly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Public health response in Israel and the UK. Dr O'Reilly will speak on environmental surveillance.
- Dr Khitam Muhsen,
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Dr Khitam Muhsen is Associate Professor, with tenure, at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her main research interest is epidemiology of infectious diseases and vaccines, emphasizing enteric infections, Helicobacter pylori infection, and rotavirus. Dr Muhsen will speak on public health response in Israel and the UK.
- Dr Vanessa Saliba, UKHSA
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Dr Vanessa Saliba is a Consultant Epidemiologist in the National Immunisation & Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Division at the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Dr Saliba will speak on public health response in Israel and the UK.
- Dr Ben Kasstan, LSHTM
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Dr Ben Kasstan is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and is based in the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Vaccines & Immunisation at LSHTM. He has been supporting public health responses to the poliovirus outbreak in New York and incident in London. Dr Kasstan will speak on public engagement with vaccination campaigns.
- Dr Leonora Weil
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Dr Leonora Weil is Public Health Consultant who works with Health Protection Operations, and the UK Health Security Agency in the London Region. She is the Director of the NHS London Legacy and Health Equity Partnership (LHEP) and an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Applied Health Research at University College London.
Admission
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