RfCA Child Immunisation Research Talks

Come and join us for FREE public talks by Canterbury researchers on improving children's health.

The Research for Children Aotearoa Child Immunisation Research Talks feature three researchers who will share their research across critical areas of immunisation for children and young people.

Light refreshments will be served.

We hope you join us on the night!

Learn more about our researchers here:

“Vaccinating pregnant women to prevent whooping cough in babies”

Canterbury was the first place in New Zealand to introduce pertussis vaccination to pregnant women to protect their newborn babies.

Prof. Walls will describe some of the local research that was critical to the introduction of this new approach to vaccination and look at how we are doing over a decade later. 

Tony Walls is Paediatrician and Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Otago, Christchurch. He trained as a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and has an M.D through the University of London. He is an advisor to PHARMAC and the New Zealand Ministry of Health on vaccine policy matters, and is an author on the National Immunisation Handbook.

"An introduction to stratified-SEIR models: How can we take demographic inequities (such as unequal vaccine rates) into account when we make policy decisions?""

Models provide predictions of disease spread and burden, which can effectively inform policy, but are often less good at including inequities/heterogeneity.

Vincent will discuss the impact of how considering critical demographic inequities can affect equity and increase overall health and wellbeing of the greater community.  

Originally from the North Island, Vincent is now a PhD Candidate at the University of Canterbury. His background lies in mathematical physics. Witnessing the impact of COVID-19, he pivoted his studies into epidemiology, specifically estimating social contacts between demographic groups to make more equitable disease models.

"Measles: after the spots fade"

New Zealand's childhood immunisation programme is a significant public health tool for protecting our most treasured at their most vulnerable, a journey which begins before birth.

Anna’s talk will discuss the importance of immunisation against measles.

Anna is an epidemiologist in child and maternal health with a focus on immunisation and vaccine preventable disease. Her research is concerned with improving health outcomes for New Zealanders, with a particular focus on utilising large administrative and clinical datasets to answer wide ranging questions.

Want to know more about Research for Children Aotearoa? Click HERE

NOTE: THIS IS AN IN PERSON ONLY, THERE WILL BE NO VIRTUAL ACCESS OR RECORDING OF THIS EVENT.