April 23, 2012
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CHKD Pediatrician Receives National Honor for Immunization Efforts
HAMPTON ROADS, Va.—Dr. John Harrington, a pediatrician and director of Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) General Academic Pediatrics, has been named a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Champion for his efforts to promote vaccination. The award recognizes Dr. Harrington’s efforts as “going above and beyond to promote or foster childhood immunizations” in his community.
”Dr. Harrington is an outstanding choice for this first-ever award and demonstrates the importance of collaboration between public health and bedside clinicians,” said State Health Commissioner Karen Remley, MD, MBA, FAAP. “Through his practice and his role as an educator, Dr. Harrington stresses the importance of vaccines to patients and the next generation of health care providers.”
“I’m just honored to be considered a champion,” said Dr. Harrington. “I think it’s a testimony to our whole practice that we put immunization as central to what we do and that we will continue to immunize children to eliminate vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Dr. Harrington, who is also an associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, notes that General Academic Pediatrics stresses to future pediatricians, pediatric residents and medical students the importance of immunizations. Dr. Harrington was nominated for the Immunization Champion award by Project Immunize Virginia, the statewide immunization coalition that promotes timely immunizations.
The CDC presents the Childhood Immunization Champion Award to only one pediatric practitioner in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The award honors individuals who meet unique immunization challenges with innovative strategies and promote infant and young child immunization. It also recognizes their efforts to promote immunization among hard-to-reach or under-immunized populations.
Dr. Harrington has recently conducted research, published in Pediatrics, on ways to reduce the pain of immunization. In his role as an expert on autism, Dr. Harrington makes a special effort to emphasize to parents that there is no evidence that immunizations can cause the condition.