Father of the COVID-19 shot offers vaccine webinar March 18
On March 18, Kansans will have an opportunity to hear directly from one of the lead scientists who made the COVID-19 vaccines possible in record time.
Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health, will be the featured guest in a live webinar hosted by Kansas State University Research and Extension and Lafene Health Center on the K-State campus.
In his presentation, “Rapid COVID-19 vaccine development: Why and how,” Graham will talk about the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine technology he helped develop and the importance of vaccinating the majority of our population so we can end this pandemic together.
A world-renowned immunologist and virologist who grew up in Olathe and Paola, Graham led the team which developed a technological approach that is the foundation of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. His innovation allowed research into the rapid creation of microscopically precise vaccines that can be specially tuned to combat emerging viruses that can cause a pandemic.
The presentation, which will be shared from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. via YouTube Live and Facebook Live, will also be found at http://ksre-learn.com/COVID-19-vaccine-webinar.
After Graham’s talk about the science behind the COVID-19 vaccines and their groundbreaking development, he will answer questions from the audience and then be joined by a panel of Kansas healthcare providers who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle including Marci Nielsen, chief advisor for COVID-19 coordination for the State of Kansas, and Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney, a family physician from Fredonia, Kansas.
Their discussion will be moderated by Dr. Kyle Goerl, medical director at Lafene, and will focus on increasing understanding about how and why the vaccines work, safety, or other concerns attendees may have. The panel discussion will also include a time for audience-submitted questions.
More information about the speakers can be found at http://ksre-learn.com/COVID-19-vaccine-webinar, which is also the webpage where the webinar may be viewed on March 18.
