February 23, 2018
An Expanding Population of Older Americans Makes Vaccination a Top Public Health Issue, UMSOM’s Wilbur Chen, MD, MS, Cautions
Today at a briefing on Capitol Hill, Wilbur Chen, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, warned that the U.S. population of adults 65 and older is expected to rise significantly over the next few decades, making vaccinations against diseases like influenza, pneumonia and shingles for this population very critical.
Citing U.S. government estimates, he said that by 2030, 71 million people in the U.S. will be 65 and older and that number will expand to 90 million by 2050. “As we age, the immune system ages,” Dr. Chen said during a briefing hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy on “Healthy Aging and Immunizations.”
Dr. Chen --Chief of the Adult Clinical Studies section at UMSOM’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Director of the University of Maryland Travel Medicine Practice-- noted that there are several vaccines designed for the aging population for diseases such as influenza, pneumococcus, shingles and tetanus.
Older Americans, he said, accounted for roughly 90% of deaths from influenza each year. Dr. Chen also mentioned that vaccination rates for influenza, pneumococcus, and shingles remain low and are an area of needed improvement.
Contact
Office of Public Affairs
655 West Baltimore Street
Bressler Research Building 14-002
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-1559
Contact Media Relations
(410) 706-5260
Related stories
Monday, October 02, 2023
UM School of Medicine Researchers Present Interim Results on Meningococcal Vaccine for Infants and Young Children in Africa
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers, as part of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), provided an interim analysis showing that the pentavalent (NmCV-5) meningitis vaccine is safe for use in 9-month-old infants in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. They presented their results to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization on September 26.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
UM School of Medicine Leads Research to Assess Meningococcal Vaccine for Infants and Young Children in Africa
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM)’s Center for Vaccine Development & Global Health (CVD) are leading a study to evaluate the use of a pentavalent – or five in one – meningococcal conjugate vaccine (NmCV-5) among infants and young children in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. This is the final and pivotal study for World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification of this vaccine, which is the last stage to make the vaccine available for low- and middle-income countries.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Dr. Wilbur Chen, Nationally-Recognized Vaccine Researcher, Selected for Federal Committee that Guides Immunization Policies
Wilbur H. Chen, MD, MS, FIDSA, FACP, Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), has been named a new voting member of the federal government’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the prestigious board of experts that makes recommendations on the safe use of vaccines for Americans. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected Dr. Chen for the 15-member advisory committee based on his expertise and national leadership in vaccinology, infectious diseases, public health, and preventive medicine. He will remain in his current role at UMSOM while he serves in his four-year term, which began last month.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
UMSOM Researchers to Test Vaccine Designed to Protect Against Serious Illness from Contaminated Food and Water
Each year, millions of people contract serious diarrheal illnesses typically from contaminated food and water. Among the biggest causes of diarrheal diseases are the bacteria Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), and researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are testing a vaccine designed to offer protection against these serious pathogens.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
UMSOM Vaccine Experts Lead Trial on Avian Flu Vaccine
Vaccine experts at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have begun multiple clinical trials of vaccines designed to protect against H7N9, an avian influenza virus that was first reported in humans in 2013 in China.