After continuous monitoring of the evolving situation with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) is announcing today that it has made the decision to cancel its 2020 Annual Meeting that was scheduled to take place March 13-16 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Cancelling the 2020 AAAAI Annual Meeting was a difficult decision made by the AAAAI Board of Directors after careful thought and deliberation,” said AAAAI President David M. Lang, MD, FAAAAI. “While an incredible amount of work went into planning this year’s educational program, and all of our speakers and abstract authors have put immense time and energy into their presentations and posters, it has reached a point with COVID-19 where the AAAAI felt it was absolutely necessary to cancel the Annual Meeting in order to protect the health and safety of attendees.”
AAAAI leadership had been meeting on a daily basis to continuously assess the situation based on what new developments had occurred, but in light of the increasing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, including the recent news that the Philadelphia area has recorded its first cases, AAAAI leadership felt that even the precautions being taken to ensure the health and safety of attendees would not be enough and the best decision was to cancel the 2020 AAAAI Annual Meeting.
The AAAAI will contact all attendees about registrations and will also contact all exhibitors about booth contracts. All attendees should be aware that in order to cancel your hotel reservation, you must contact the hotel directly at least 72 hours prior to check-in in order to avoid fees.
Anyone with urgent and immediate concerns should email annualmeeting@aaaai.org. Additional updates concerning the 2020 Annual Meeting will be posted to annualmeeting.aaaai.org.
The AAAAI wishes to sincerely thank everyone for their patience throughout this decision-making process.
