Synopsis

Immunisations are one of the world’s greatest public health interventions, and also one of the areas of medicine increasingly susceptible to misinformation. Independent, evidence-based scientific advice to governments and the community is crucial in informing immunisation policy and appropriate utilisation and uptake of safe and effective vaccines. As a paediatrician with 25 years’ experience at The Royal Children’s Hospital and over 10 years on our national immunisation advisory committee (ATAGI), this Grand Round will reflect on some of the lessons learnt and discuss what the immunisation landscape might look like in the years ahead.

Speaker

Professor Nigel Crawford is a consultant general paediatrician and Medical Head of the Immunisation service at The Royal Children’s Hospital. He has a Master of Public Health from Cardiff University and a PhD in vaccinology from the University of Melbourne. Nigel is also Director of SAEFVIC, the Victorian vaccine safety service, based at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and helped establish the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre (MVEC). Nigel is a professor in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne and his research interests include vaccine safety, immunisation of special risk groups and emerging infections, particularly those that may soon be vaccine preventable. He has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation since 2014, and became Chair in 2021.