A4 INDUSTRY Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | March 2021 Henry Schein hosts ‘Managing Through Crisis,’ a virtual global media event Corporate leaders discuss key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, dental industry trends and business updates during briefing for trade media editors By Henry Schein Staff Henry Schein Inc. hosted a virtual global media event during the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, titled “Managing Through Crisis for a Stronger Tomorrow,” during which the company’s leadership presented its view of the future of den- tistry within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To start the event, held the morning of Feb. 25, Stanley M. Bergman, Henry Schein’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer, presented key learn- ings from the COVID-19 pandemic, in- cluding how dentists around the world can play a key role as front-line respond- ers during the pandemic as well as the importance of dental practitioners being involved with administering COVID-19 point-of-care rapid tests and vaccina- tions. “The past year has been incredibly challenging for the dental profession and for society in general,” Bergman said. “We are optimistic that dental teams globally will emerge stronger from the crisis as they accelerate the adoption of Stanley M. Bergman, Henry Schein’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer, discusses key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic during a virtual global media event held during the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. Photo/Fred Michmershuizen, Dental Tribune digital technologies to advance the deliv- ery of care.” Following Bergman’s presentation, Jonathan Koch, senior vice president and chief executive officer of Henry Schein’s Global Dental Group, provided insights on the Global Dental Group’s support of customers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and shared his perspective on emerging trends in the global dental market. Six additional Henry Schein leaders also discussed how their regions handled the challenges presented by COVID-19 To learn more For more information, visit Henry Schein at www. henryschein.com, Facebook.com/HenrySchein and @HenrySchein on Twitter. and provided key business updates with- in their geographies: A.J. Caffentzis, pres- ident, US Dental Distribution; Andrea Albertini, president, EMEA Dental Dis- tribution Group; René Willi, president, Global Dental Surgical Group; Prashant Ohri, vice president and general man- ager, Henry Schein Canada; and David Brous, president, Strategic Business Units and Asia Pacific and Brazil Dental. “From the beginning of the pandemic, Henry Schein’s Global Dental Group has remained flexible in its approach to serv- ing our customers, our supplier partners, our Team Schein Members and the com- munities in which we live and work,” Koch said. “As the dental profession continues to change, our team remains steadfast in our commitment to staying agile so that customers can ‘Rely On Us’ to provide a wide variety solutions so dental professionals can focus on deliv- ering high-quality care.” New FDI World Dental Federation global survey reveals two-thirds of countries are not allowing dentists to administer COVID-19 vaccines By FDI World Dental Federation Staff The FDI World Dental Federation (www. fdiworlddental.org/vaccines) has called for more countries to enable dentists to administer COVID-19 vaccines after a survey of its members revealed the small number of countries currently permit- ting dentists to do so. The survey was facilitated by FDI’s COVID-19 Task Team. Fifty-seven member national dental associations, from across the globe, re- vealed nearly two-thirds of countries had not granted permission to dentists to administer COVID-19 vaccines as part of national rollouts. In Europe, countries where dentists are not permitted to administer the vaccine include Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Slovakia and Russia. In France, the National Order of Dental Surgeons has called on the government to grant permission to the profession, but no authorization has been given to date. Discussions are also ongoing in Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, Kenya, Hong Kong and Germany. “Oral health is a fundamental compo- nent of overall health and well-being and oral health care is an essential public ser- vice,” said Dr. Gerhard Konrad Seeberger, president of FDI World Dental Federation. “Efforts should be made to enable den- tists to administer COVID-19 vaccines when possible within national legislation and regulations, and with minimal dis- ruption to oral healthcare services.” Countries permitting dentists to administer COVID-19 vaccines Of the 57 survey responses, the coun- tries that have granted authorization to the profession to administer vaccines include Cambodia, Colombia, Egypt, In- dia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Serbia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom (17 per- cent). Significantly, some of these coun- tries include those where dentists have not previously been allowed to admin- ister vaccines, or at least the influenza vaccine. In the United States (https://success. ada .org/en /prac tic e-management/ patients/covid-19-vaccine-regulations- for-dentists-map) around 20 states are currently permitting dentists to admin- ister COVID-19 vaccines. Inclusion of dentists in priority vaccination groups The survey also examined the prioriti- zation of dentists in COVID-19 vaccine roll-out programs. A total 53 percent of responding countries said dentists would be included in priority vaccination groups, 12 percent said they would not be and 18 percent said the vaccination prior- ity groups were still being planned. Those countries not including dentists as a priority group include Cambodia, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. Ahead of World Oral Health Day on March 20, FDI will release a new set of data around the caseload of COVID-19 infection amongst dentists around the world.