NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci to discuss progress made in the development of a universal flu vaccine at National Press Club Headliners Luncheon July 18

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This past year's flu season killed more children than any other non-pandemic year on record, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year. As the world marks the 100-year anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide in 1918, the push for the development of a universal flu vaccine capable of addressing future pandemics is gaining ground – most notably with the appropriations of an additional $40 million to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) budget for a total of $100 million to develop such a vaccine, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's announcement this past spring to award $12 million to the cause.    

Leading the research on the development of a universal flu vaccine is Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the NIAID. With the start of the 2018-2019 flu season just a few months away, Dr. Fauci will speak about the progress made thus far, and the challenges that lay ahead as each strain grows deadlier and public trust in vaccinations wane at a National Press Club Headliners Luncheon on Wednesday, July 18.

Dr. Fauci began his career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) back in 1968 in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation in NIAID, and was later appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation in 1980, a position he still holds to this day. Dr. Fauci was appointed Director of NIAID in 1984 and has advised five Presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. Fauci was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for his role as an architect of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has been responsible for saving millions of lives in sub-Saharan Africa. NIAID and Dr. Fauci have been front and center on many headline-making incidents including the anthrax attacks in 2001 and the most recent Ebola outbreak that included treating several persons who treated Ebola victims in Africa.

Lunch will be served in the club's Holeman Lounge at 12:30 p.m., with remarks beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session ending at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 for National Press Club members (members may purchase two tickets at this rate) and $39 for all other non-member tickets. Please click here to purchase tickets to the luncheon.

For all ticketing-related questions, please email [email protected]. Tickets must be paid for at the time of purchase. To submit a question for the speaker in advance, put FAUCI in the subject line and email to [email protected]. The deadline for submitting questions in advance is 10 a.m. on the day of the luncheon.

The National Press Club is located on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

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SOURCE National Press Club

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