Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine given to children 12 months of age and older has resulted in significant protection from the disease for infants as well, according to a study in the December 2011 issue of Pediatrics and published online Nov. 28. Dr. Walter A. Orenstein, MD, Associate Director of the Emory Vaccine Center and Director of the Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center (IPIRC) at Emory University, comes on the show to discuss adolescent vaccines and the Chicken Pox Vaccine. He will discuss how immunizing your child can also help them to be better sleepers, thereby increasing their immune systems!
Guest Info
Walter A. Orenstein, MD, is Associate Director of the Emory Vaccine Center and Director of the Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center (IPIRC) at Emory University having returned to Emory in October 2011. From 2008 through 2011, Dr. Orenstein was Deputy Director for Immunization Programs in the Vaccine Delivery department of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His primary focus at the foundation had been on polio eradication, measles control, and improving routine immunization programs. Between 2004 and 2008, he was a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Emory University, Associate Director of the Emory Vaccine Center and Director of the Emory Program on Vaccine Policy and Development among other responsibilities. Prior to 2004, he served as a former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service and Director of the National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where Dr. Orenstein successfully developed, promoted, facilitated and expanded new vaccination strategies to enhance disease prevention.
