Selected Podcast

COVID-19 Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness

In less than one year, two different COVID-19 vaccines were created, studied, approved and distributed in the United States. Children’s of Alabama and University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) infectious diseases expert Dr. David Kimberlin is incredibly proud of the scientific community and encourages all to roll up their sleeves to eradicate the pandemic. Kimberlin explains why the vaccines are safe and effective, and exactly how the vaccines protect the body against COVID-19.
COVID-19 Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness
Featured Speaker:
David Kimberlin, MD
Dr. David Kimberlin is the Sergio Stagno Endowed Chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he is Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research and Co-Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Kimberlin is editor of the 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases (Red Book). He was editor of the 2018 and 2015 editions, and associate editor of the 2009 and 2012 editions. Since 2007, Kimberlin has served as the AAP Red Book liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Through both the ACIP and the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, Kimberlin has been involved in major national decisions throughout 2020 regarding allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes available, assessment of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines in populations studied to date and development of the phased rollout of the vaccine to the American public. The goal is to reduce transmission, morbidity, mortality of COVID-19 disease; minimize disruption to society and the economy, including maintaining healthcare capacity; and ensure equity in vaccine allocation and distribution.

Kimberlin is also Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Antiviral Study Group (CASG), now known as the Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC). Funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases since the early 1970s, the CASG/CPIC is a network of pediatric academic medical centers that evaluates antiviral therapeutics in rare diseases with a large unmet medical need, including neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections, congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease, congenital Zika syndrome, neonatal and infantile influenza infection, and neonatal enteroviral sepsis syndrome. Kimberlin is past-president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS). In 2016, he received the Ronald McDonald House Charities Medical Award of Excellence and has received numerous education awards.