Around the Table: Children and the COVID-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know

Our third Around the Table discussion will focus on children and the COVID-19 vaccines. Guest panelist Dr. Peter J. Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics, will examine why it is important to vaccinate children, what can be done before the vaccines are authorized for all, and how we know that the vaccines are safe. At a time of increased infection rates among children and adults due to the COVID-19 Delta variant, this discussion is critically important.

Around the Table, a quarterly series of roundtable discussions, focuses on relevant health equity issues and offers tested, actionable solutions. Featuring Dr. Judith A. Salerno, President of NYAM and Dr. Wayne J. Riley, Board Chair of NYAM, President of SUNY Downstate, with a rotating list of expert guest panelists, each program defines the issue, shares information, answers questions and provides action items for the viewer to take.

A key feature of the program will be a “What can I do?” segment at the end of the discussion. These action items will also be shared with attendees and the public following the event on NYAM’s whatcanido.nyc website.

Special thanks to the NYAM Advocates for Health Equity for their generous support of our public programming.  

About the Speakers

Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD

Dr. Hotez is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. As head of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people.

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Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP

Dr. Riley is the 17th president of the Brooklyn-based SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, where he also holds tenured professorships in internal medicine, health policy, and management. Dr. Riley joined the NYAM Board of Trustees in 2017 and was elected Chair in October 2020. Prior to joining SUNY Downstate in 2017, Dr. Riley served as clinical professor of medicine and adjunct professor of Health Policy & Management at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Before that, Dr. Riley served from 2007-2013 with distinction as the 10th president and chief executive officer and professor of medicine at the historic Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. An academic, primary care general internist, Dr. Riley has more than 25 years of progressively senior executive level management, policy, and leadership experiences in academic medicine, patient care, research administration, academic health center administration, healthcare management, health policy, biotechnology, the corporate sector, government service, advocacy, and organized medicine.

Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS

Dr. Salerno is President of The New York Academy of Medicine and is leading its strategic vision to advance health equity. A physician executive and one of the nation’s pre-eminent leaders in health and healthcare, Dr. Salerno most recently served as President and CEO of Susan G. Komen ™, the world’s largest breast cancer organization. She also served as the Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, and Chief Consultant for Geriatrics and Extended Care for the U.S. Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Salerno is board-certified in internal medicine and holds an MD degree from Harvard Medical School and a Master of Science in Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2018.