COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza: Preparing Hospitals and Vaccinating Patients, Spotlight Series

COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza: Preparing Hospitals and Vaccinating Patients

COVID-19 and seasonal influenza each present a significant stress to the hospital system and medical professionals across the globe. What can we expect to happen when both COVID-19 cases and influenza occur simultaneously? Receiving a yearly influenza vaccine can help keep an individual and a community safe, but what happens when there is mistrust in a vaccine, or lack of access to a vaccine? Join us as we break down hospital preparedness for seasonal influenza patients and an increase in COVID-19 patients and vaccine access and the anti-vax movement.

This is a two-part event with Dr. Chotani. Completing the registration form will successfully register you for both events. The schedule and topic descriptions can be found below.

December 4, 1:00-1:30pm EDT: How hospitals are preparing for the influx of COVID-19 patients and seasonal influenza

December 11, 1:00-1:30pm EDT: Vaccine access and mistrust: Protecting individuals from seasonal influenza and increasing public trust towards a potential COVID-19 vaccine

 

Rashid Chotani, MD, MPH, DTM, FRCPH co-founded the first screening center for COVID-19 and established the protocol for rapid antibody testing as well as PCR viral detection in an infection control clinical setting; offering free screening for healthcare providers in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia areas in March when testing for asymptomatic individuals was not offered. He has been an advocate for testing, tracking and tracing for COVID-19 and officially advises multiple States, Counties and jurisdictions in the US. He helped establish testing centers in New York City.

He has been a weekly commentator on Fox News as a COVID-19 expert and his OpEd’s have been published in leading news outlets. He has been interviewed by print media on all aspects of the disease and is currently advising leading legislators in Washington DC on novel ways including “pool testing,” “sewage surveillance,” and “ambient air cleaning,” by a zinc-based heating coil that exchanges air and kills the virus (99.8%). He has been published in peer reviewed medical journals and is constantly writing about the latest research on COVID-19. He received his MPH from the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1996