Preferences for COVID-19 vaccination in people with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases
A CITF-funded study published in The Journal of Rheumatology highlighted that people with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) perceived the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination as outweighing their concerns over rare, though serious side effects and potential disease flare.
Vaccine effectiveness in people with chronic kidney disease can be reliably estimated using various study designs
A CITF-funded study conducted by Dr. Matthew Oliver (University of Toronto) and his team revealed that estimates of vaccine effectiveness (VE) in individuals diagnosed with chronic kidney disease are consistent across three common study designs: test-negative, pseudo-test-negative, and cohort studies.
Antibody responses against the BQ.1.1 subvariant elicited following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination and breakthrough infection
A partially CITF-funded, study, published in Vaccines, demonstrated that hybrid immunity, generated by vaccination and recent infection, induces higher humoral responses than vaccination alone against ancestral and Omicron variant BA.5 subvariant BQ.1.1 SARS-CoV-2 strains, regardless of which mRNA vaccine is administered.
Infection-acquired seroprevalence continued to increase in mid-December: Canadian Blood Services
Canadian Blood Services data suggest 73.3% of donors had infection-acquired antibodies by mid-December 2022 – slightly higher than the 71% Canadian Blood Services estimated at the end of November.
A comprehensive and up-to-date pathogen surveillance system is needed, where blood donor surveillance would be essential
In a letter published in CMAJ, CITF-funded researchers Drs. Sheila O’Brien and Stephen Drews (Canadian Blood Services) argue that blood donor surveillance would make a valuable contribution to public health efforts to monitor emerging pathogens.
Pulmonary embolisms can be prevented by screening patients who go to the emergency department with COVID-19 symptoms for blood clots
A CITF-funded study published in the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine by Dr. Corinne Hohl (University of British Columbia), found that performing a D-dimer screening test on patients exhibiting characteristic COVID-19 symptoms upon admission to hospital emergency departments (ED) was very effective in ruling out the risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) within 30 days.
Global seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2: Updated data from SeroTracker
A study published in PLOS Medicine, carried out by CITF-funded SeroTracker, in partnership with the World Health Organization Unity Studies Team, found global SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence (due to infection and vaccination) was 59.2% by September 2021.
Delays in publishing seroprevalence studies reduce their usefulness for public health policy
A study relying on data from CITF-funded SeroTracker, published in Epidemics by Dr. Rahul Arora (University of Calgary), showed that peer-reviewed scientific papers and preprints of COVID-19 seroprevalence studies are published more slowly than those published via other means, thereby diminishing their usefulness to public health decision-makers during a time-sensitive health emergency response.
Intranasal administration of protein vaccines shows potential for protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection
In a CITF-funded study published in Vaccines, Dr. Marc-André Langlois (University of Ottawa) found that adjuvanted protein vaccines administered intranasally can elicit strong both systemic and mucosal antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants in mice.