A CITF-funded study, published in Scientific Reports, found that the proportion of incidental SARS-CoV-2 infections increased substantially across the pandemic waves. In particular, the percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 upon admission to hospital for something else rose from 10% to 41% during the Omicron wave.
A CITF-funded study, published in preprint and not-yet peer-reviewed, reported that third and fourth doses of monovalent and bivalent mRNA vaccines provided similar strong protection against severe outcomes from COVID-19 among community-dwelling adults over the age of 50.
A perspective, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases by authors of this CITF-funded study, reported that various biases in how data are collected and analyzed could lead to false negative conclusions regarding vaccine effectiveness (VE).
A CITF-funded study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases reaffirmed that myocarditis following a mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is rare. Furthermore, the myocarditis rate following a third mRNA dose is lower than after the second dose.
A CITF-funded study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, reported that among adolescents the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis after receiving the monovalent Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine varies according to age and sex. There is some evidence to suggest an increased risk with shorter intervals between doses 1 and 2.
In this CITF-funded study published in Pediatrics, Drs. Jeffrey Kwong (University of Toronto) and Kumanan Wilson (University of Ottawa) highlighted that two doses of the monovalent Pfizer-BioNtech mRNA vaccine yielded moderate protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, while protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes was much higher among children between the ages of 5 and 11.
In this CITF-funded study, published in Nature Communications, Dr. Jeffrey Kwong (University of Toronto), along with Drs. Kumanan Wilson and Deshayne Fell (University of Ottawa) found that a third and fourth dose of mRNA vaccine sustained the protection conferred against severe Omicron-related outcomes for at least three months in people aged 50 years or older.
CITF-funded researchers at Héma-Québec, led by Drs. Marc Germain and Renée Bazin, published a paper in BMJ Open reporting on the characteristics of the plasma donors whose samples are used to study COVID-19 immunity in Quebec. More than 86,000 plasma samples have been collected from more than 15,500 individual donors in its COVID-19-focused PlasCOV biobank.
In a CITF-funded study published in Public Health, Dr. Corinne Hohl (University of British Columbia) revealed that SARS-CoV-2–positive patients who presented to emergency departments reported similar physical health conditions 30 days after discharge, but substantially worse mental health after 30 days compared to their SARS-CoV-2-negative counterparts.
In a study published in BMJ, CITF-funded researchers Drs. Kumanan Wilson (University of Ottawa), Jeffrey Kwong (University of Toronto), and Deshayne Fell (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute) revealed that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is effective at protecting the newborns from SARS-CoV-2 infections and hospitalizations, particularly during the first two months of life.