Vaccine-induced seroprevalence hits highest level to date, yet early fourth wave hitting those most at-risk: Canadian Blood Services August report
96% of Canadian blood donors have evidence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, primarily due to vaccination, a rate that has increased from 91% in June and 95% in July. This according to Canadian Blood Services’ 13th seroprevalence report, covering data from August 2021. Nonetheless, targeted efforts to alleviate infection burden and promote vaccine uptake are still required amongst racialized donors and those living in lower-income neighbourhoods, [...]
Incarcerated individuals face an increased risk of acquiring COVID-19
Congregate settings (such as prisons, long-term care homes) have provided opportunities for COVID-19 to flourish. As part of her CITF-funded work recently released in a Lancet preprint, therefore not yet peer reviewed, Dr. Nadine Kronfli from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre found that the number of incarcerated men at three provincial prisons in Quebec with antibodies due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection was two times higher than among nonvaccinated individuals in the Montreal area.
One in five vaccinated long-term care residents at risk of COVID-19 because of low antibody levels, supporting need for booster shots
Findings from a CITF-funded study led by Drs. Andrew Costa and Dawn Bowdish at McMaster University helped inform the federal government’s decision to recommend a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine for long-term care residents.
COVID Infections in children and teens continue to rise, study finds
CITF-funded researcher Dr. Kate Zinszer, from the Université de Montréal, and her EnCORE study team have released additional preliminary, non-peer reviewed results indicating a marked increase in the number of Montreal youth aged 2 to 17 with antibodies due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection in recent months.
Mental health and life satisfaction declined among Canadian paramedics during the COVID-19 pandemic
CITF-funded researchers Dr. Tracy Kirkham and PhD student Christopher MacDonald from the University of Toronto and colleagues found that the COVID-19 pandemic had negative effects on Canadian paramedics in 2021 including reduction in life satisfaction, mental and physical health, and the ability to cope with stress.
Low COVID-19 infection rate among Canadian dentists is reassuring to the profession
Due to the nature of dentistry, dental care settings have the potential to be high-risk environments for the spread of COVID-19.
Explaining the limited utility of convalescent plasma from the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in treating those newly infected
The continued persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in predominantly unvaccinated individuals has meant a continued need for therapeutics to treat those hospitalized with COVID-19.
A Canadian platform to study the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination
In a paper now published in Clinical and Translational Immunology, a team of Canadian researchers partly funded by the CITF and led by Drs. Anne-Claude Gingras from Toronto’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Marc-André Langlois from the University of Ottawa, and Yves Durocher from the National Research Council of Canada, has developed a set of standardized, high-throughput serological assays to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
Plant-produced proteins for SARS-COV-2 could expand vaccine-delivery options
It is increasingly clear that vaccines are among the primary solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic.