List of all CITF decisions and actions to manage direct COIs – 2021

Decision Actions to manage COI
Executive Committee meeting #7 – February 4, 2021

EC approved support for a vaccine surveillance study:

  • Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) Provincial Collaborative Network (PCN) COVID-19 Vaccine Post-Market Studies (PI: Jeff Kwong)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #8 – February 24, 2021

EC approved support for four vaccine surveillance studies:

  • Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network (CANVAS): COVID-19 Vaccine Active Safety Surveillance (PI: Julie Bettinger)
  • Suivi de la réponse immunitaire dans le contexte de la vaccination contre la COVID-19 – Mise en place d’une cohorte longitudinale de donneurs de plasma (PI: Marc Germain)
  • British Columbia COVID Vaccine Immunity Evaluation (PI: Manish Sadarangani)
  • REinfection in COVID-19 Estimation of Risk (RECOVER) Phase 2-Vaccine (PI: Caroline Quach)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #9 – March 25, 2021
EC approved funding for:
Two vaccine surveillance studies

  • Active surveillance for COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness among Canadian children: A Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program ACTive (IMPACT) Project (PI: Karina Top)
  • Immunogenicity and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with alternate schedules of authorized COVID-19 vaccines in Canada: is “mix and match” of the second dose safe and immunogenic? (PI: Joanne Langley)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #10 – April 8, 2021

EC approved funding for three vaccine surveillance studies:

  • Canadian COVID-19 Emergency Department Rapid Response Network: Real-World Effectiveness and Duration of Protection in Special Populations (PI: Corrine Hohl)
  • Evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines among underserved urban populations with intersecting risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality: a pooled analysis of three prospective cohort studies in Vancouver (PI: M-J Milloy)
  • Vaccines in a Time of Dual Pandemic: COVID 19 Vaccine in People with HIV (PI: Mario Ostrowski)
  • Best Practices for Distributed-Network Studies of Vaccine Safety and Efficacy (PI: Robert Platt)

T. Evans and C. Hankins declared  direct conflicts with the Best Practices for Distributed-Network Studies of Vaccine Safety and Efficacy project and abstained.

C. Kaushic declared a direct conflict with the Vaccines in a Time of Dual Pandemic : COVID 19 Vaccine in People with HIV project and was recused.

Co-Chairs Decision
Funding was awarded for a Héma-Québec and Canadian Blood Services cross-validation study. No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #11 – April 22, 2021
EC approved funding for:
One vaccine surveillance study

  • Optimizing COVID-19 immunization in patients with adverse events following immunization and patients with immunosuppression in the Special Immunization Clinic (SIC) Network (PI: Karina Top)

Nine vaccine surveillance studies

  • Toward Enhancing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence among African Canadians: Sustainability of Immune Responses and Safety Profiles (PI: Upton Allen)
  • Investigating Vaccine Access, Immunogenicity, Effectiveness, and Safety among South Asians in Ontario and British Columbia (PI: Sonia Anand)
  • Vaccine Access, Uptake, Effectiveness and Safety in First Nations Communities (PI: Sonia Anand)
  • A prospective multi-site observational study of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination immunogenicity in patients with hematologic malignancies (PI: Arianne Buchan)
  • Characterization of COVID-19 vaccine safety epidemiology and safety signal detection for adverse events following immunization in Alberta (PI: Alexander Doroshenko)
  • COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy: A province-wide epidemiological assessment of safety and effectiveness using the BORN Ontario Registry (PI: Deschayne Fell)
  • PRospective Evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccine in Transplant Recipients (PREVenT-COVID) (PI: Deepali Kumar)
  • Canadian COVID-19 Vaccine Registry for Pregnant and Lactating Individuals (COVERED): An Evaluation of Safety, Effectiveness, and Acceptability (PI: Deborah Money)

One Hot Spot study

  • COVID-19 Risk and Immunity in Montreal North: A Population-based Study (PI: Jack Jedwab)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #12 – May 4, 2021

EC approved five vaccine surveillance studies for funding:

  • Safety immUnogenicity of Covid-19 vaCcines in systEmic immunE mediated inflammatory Diseases (SUCCEED) (PI: Sasha Bernatsky)
  • Prospective Cohort Study to Examine Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Cancer Patients with Solid and Hematological Malignancies (PI: Glenwood Goss)
  • Determining the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in the chronic kidney disease population (PI: Matthew Oliver)
  • Assessing the impact of the current SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in Indigenous populations in Arctic Canada (PI: Sangita Sharma)
  • Immunogenicity of current SARS-CoV-2 vaccine schedules in Canada (PI: Pascal Lavoie)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #13 – May 6, 2021

EC approved four vaccine surveillance studies for funding:

  • COVID-19 Vaccine Immunogenicity and Safety in ImmunoDeficient patients (PI: Juthaporn Cowan)
  • Fine analysis of longitudinal immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in vaccination: Harnessing the power of ‘Stop The Spread Ottawa’ to understand immune protection in COVID-19 (PI: Angela Crawley)
  • COVID-19 Vaccination among People Living with HIV: Immunogenicity, Effectiveness, and Safety (PI: Aslam Anis)
  • Are there post-vaccination antibody levels that correlate with protection against COVID-19? (AB-Protect) (PI: Allison McGeer)

EC also approved support for two provincial serosurveys:

  • Manitoba COVID Sero-prevalence Study (MCS Study) (PI: Derek Stein)
  • Saskatchewan SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Protocol (PI: Maureen Anderson)
No members declared a direct COI.
EC review and approval by email – May 13, 2021

EC approved two vaccine surveillance RFA studies:

  • The PREVENT-COVID in Seniors Study: PRospEctiVe EvaluatioN of immunity after COVID-19 vaccines in Seniors (Co-PI: Agatha Jassem, Manish Sadarangani)
  • Safety and Efficacy of Protective COVID-19 Vaccines (PI: Sharon Walmsley)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #14 – May 27, 2021

EC approved funding for a Hot Spots vaccine surveillance study:

  • COVID-19 in the Orthodox Jewish Community of Montreal: A mixed-methods study of immunity integrating anthropology, epidemiology and immunology (PI: Peter Nugus)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #15 – June 17, 2021

EC approved funding for two vaccine surveillance studies:

  • Sentinel surveillance for serious adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and assessment of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness for the prevention of serious outcomes among hospitalized Canadian adults: A study of the Serious Outcomes Surveillance (SOS) Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) (PI: Shelly McNeil)
  • Determinants of Community COVID-19 Transmission: Learning from the Hutterites (PI: Mark Loeb)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #16 – July 8, 2021

EC approved funding for one Post-RFA vaccine surveillance study:

  • Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council COVID-19 Vaccine Study into Immune Response, Effectiveness, Safety (PI: Lynette Lucas)

Heather Hannah was introduced as replacing Vivek Goel on EC.

No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #17 – July 15, 2021

EC approved an updated protocol with additional laboratory analysis for:

  • Saskatchewan SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence study (PI: Maureen Anderson; this study replaces the project approved on May 6, 2021)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #18 – July 29, 2021
No final funding decisions made. No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #19 – August 26, 2021
No final funding decisions made. No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #20 – September 23, 2021
EC approved additional funds for:

  • Surveying Prospective Population cOhorts for COVID-19 pRevalence and ouTcomes in Canada (SUPPORT-Canada) – Phase II (PI: Philip Awadalla)

Paul Van Caeseele was introduced as a new member on the EC.

No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #21 – October 21, 2021

EC approved new funding for:

  • Understanding Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination in children aged 5-11 years: Expansion of existing CITF-supported pediatric studies (PI: Manish Sadarangani)

EC reviewed other study amendments where no additional funds were requested.

No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #22 – November 4, 2021

EC approved additional funds for:

  • COVID-19 Vaccination among People living with HIV: Immunogenicity, Effectiveness and Safety – Phase II (PI: Aslam Anis)
No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #23 – December 2, 2021

EC approved the reallocation of funds from the MOSAIC-1 study to the MOSAIC-2 study:

  • Immunogenicity and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with alternate schedules of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada: is “mix and match” of the second dose and a heterologous third dose (MOSAIC-2; CT24b) (PI: Joanne Langley)

EC approved additional funds for the special initiative:

  • SeroTracker (PI: Rahul Arora)

EC endorsed the applications of the two Canadian laboratories slated to receive flow cytometers from Becton Dickinson as part of the BD-CITF Cell Mediated Immunity (CMI) partnership.  This partnership does not involve the use of any CITF funds.

EC reviewed other study amendments where no additional funds were requested.

No members declared a direct COI.
Executive Committee Meeting #24 – December 16, 2021

EC approved new funding for:

  • Canadian Surveillance of COVID-19 in Pregnancy: Epidemiology, Maternal and Infant Outcomes – CANCOVID-Preg (PI: Deborah Money)
  • Safety and immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in pediatric autoimmune diseases (PI: Rae Yeung)
No members declared a direct COI.