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webinar
November 16, 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST

Vital Lessons on Vaccines: What’s Recommended, What’s Covered and How to Get Them

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Vital Lessons on Vaccines: What’s Recommended, What’s Covered and How to Get Them

Date

November 16, 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST

Location

Online

Cost

Free

Credit

Attributes

Good for Parents
Subject Health and Wellness — Personal and Community Health • Professional Learning
Grade Level Professional Development, Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel, Specialized Instructional Support Personnel

About This Webinar

Flu season is here. Measles cases are at their highest level since the U.S. eliminated the disease. And federal vaccine guidance has changed — and been challenged in court — more than once this year. That leaves families and workers with practical questions: Which vaccines are recommended for me and my kids this fall? Will my insurance still cover them? Where do I turn if it doesn’t? 

Join AFT President Randi Weingarten, Dr. Vin Gupta and emergency physician Dr. Michael Ybarra, Chief Medical Officer at PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's trade association, for a timely Vital Lessons town hall on infectious disease, vaccine affordability and access. 

Together, they'll look at what's spreading this season, what's changed in how vaccines are recommended and paid for, and what workers and families can do to protect access. 

We'll discuss: 

  • What's circulating this fall (flu, COVID-19, RSV and measles) and who is most at risk
  • How recent changes to federal vaccine guidance affect what's recommended and covered
  • What vaccines cost, who pays, and what to ask your insurer, pharmacist or doctor
  • Where to turn when cost or coverage gets in the way 

Bring your questions. Randi and Vin will take them live. 

Clear information, straight answers and practical next steps, with no hype and no fear. 

This session is part of AFT's Vital Lessons webinar series, bringing timely, trusted and practical health and wellness conversations to members in education, healthcare and public services.

Speakers

Michael Ybarra, MD

Chief Medical Officer, PhRMA

Michael Ybarra, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). At PhRMA, he is responsible for medical affairs, coalition building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic partnerships in support of PhRMA’s federal public policy priorities, with a focus on patient access and reimbursement to innovative medicines. He leads PhRMA’s work on vaccines. 

Dr. Ybarra is an emergency physician and graduate of Stanford University and Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency training in emergency medicine. In addition to his experience at PhRMA, he has over a decade of experience in clinical medicine as a practicing emergency physician, including seeing patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He served in senior roles in the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) prior to joining PhRMA and he currently sits on the boards of the National Health Council, Personalized Medicine Coalition, and the Academy of Physicians in Clinical Research (APCR). 

Profile picture for user Randi Weingarten
President, AFT

RANDI WEINGARTEN is president of the 1.8 million-member AFT, AFL-CIO, which represents teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal government employees; and early childhood educators. The AFT champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for students, their families and communities. The AFT and its members advance these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through members’ work.

Profile picture for user vinnie.gup
Public Health Physician, Professor, and Health Policy Expert

Dr. Vin Gupta, MD, MPA, is a public health physician, professor, and health policy expert. As a Harvard-trained lung specialist, Vin has spent the past 15 years working worldwide to improve public health for organizations including the US Centers for Disease Control, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Harvard Global Health Institute, the World Health Organization, and the Pentagon’s Center for Global Health Engagement. Given his diversity of experiences, he is now a trusted advisor and contributor to national and international media outlets on several of the most important health issues today, including serving as a regular health policy analyst for NBC News and contributor to the New York Times and CNN New Day. As you will see below, Vin is committed to voicing evidence-informed perspectives across a range of critical issues like domestic US healthcare reform, the vaping epidemic, the effects of climate change on human health, and gun control. In doing so, he speaks honestly and is driven by evidence, not opinion or dogma.

Professional Credit

Share My Lesson webinars are available for one-hour of PD credit. A certificate of completion will be available for download at the end of your session that you can submit for your school's or district's approval.

In addition, Share My Lesson has arrangements in place as follows:

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