COVID-19 Vaccine: Brookline Health Department Hosts Virtual Forum

BROOKLINE, MA — In an effort to help Brookline residents understand the latest about the COVID-19 vaccine and its rollout, the town's health department is hosting an online forum with a panel of Brookline infectious disease experts.

"We are extremely lucky to count these experts in the field of public health and vaccines as members of our community," Brookline Health Commissioner Swanni Jett said in a statement. "While the distribution of the vaccine statewide and in Brookline is an extremely complex and challenging effort, this event will help everyone better understand how it will work, and I encourage everyone to attend."

The virtual forum update on the vaccine rollout is set for 7 p.m., Feb. 2, and features Brookline public health professionals who work at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine activity in Massachusetts.

The discussion will touch on the status of the vaccines in Brookline and in the Commonwealth, including insight into their development and distribution. Jett will also share how the vaccine will be administered in Brookline.

The two featured speakers are Director of Clinical Research, Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Lindsey Baden and Medical Director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences for Massachusetts Department of Public Health Larry Madoff.

Baden is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School where he is a top infectious disease specialist and an expert in vaccine development for viral diseases. He serves as principal investigator of the Moderna vaccine clinical trials at Brigham and Women’s. Baden will provide an update on the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use and vaccine experiences to date, including vaccine safety and efficacy, according to the public health department.

Madoff who is part of the COVID-19 leadership team at the Mass. Department of Public Health, Dr. professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a lecturer on medicine at Harvard Medical School will discuss the Commonwealth’s plan for distributing the vaccine.

Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard Chan School of Public Health Natalia Linos, who has training in epidemiology, also serves on the Poor People’s Campaign COVID-19 Health Justice Advisory Committee will moderate the program.

To register for the free program: www.brooklinema.gov/health.