Publications from our Experts

Scientists from Université de Montréal, including Dr. Cecile Tremblay and CITF-funded researchers Drs. Daniel Kaufmann and Andrés Finzi, conducted a comprehensive study of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2, three weeks after a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. They reported a robust response, especially in individuals with a history of COVID-19. Their study, published in Cell Host and Microbe, supports the rationale for [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for long-term care (LTC) residents and their communities. In response to this, researchers, clinicians, and policy experts from around the world, including CITF-supported researchers Drs. Andrew Costa, George Heckman, and John Hirdes, came together in a virtual conference to address critical issues in LTC related to COVID-19 and to develop practical policy recommendations. This article, published in [...]

Researchers, including CITF-supported researcher Dr. Angela Cheung, conducted a systematic review to document the prevalence of post-COVID-19 symptoms in people in the short term (4-12 weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19), as well as in the long term (after more than 12 weeks post-diagnosis). In this pre-print, therefore not yet peer-reviewed, the researchers suggest that most confirmed COVID-19 patients continued to experience one or [...]

The risk of death from COVID-19 for patients receiving hemodialysis is 25% - much higher than in the general population. One of the reasons for this is that hemodialysis patients have compromised immune systems. Patients receiving hemodialysis were not included in the Pfizer-BioNTech clinical trials, so it is unclear if these patients develop strong immune responses following vaccination. In a recent article published in [...]

CITF Leadership Group member Dr. Gina Ogilvie and VSRG Working Group member Dr. Manish Sadarangani have found, in a study published in BMC Public Health, that nearly 80% of British Columbians intend to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. That percentage does vary by race, gender, education, ethnicity and occupation, with hesitancy highest among participants with less than high school education, self-identifying as non-white, women, or [...]

Patients with chronic kidney disease, including those on dialysis, have been prioritized for vaccination due to increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes such as hospitalization and death. This is an important population to study as these patients have a reduced immune response to infection and vaccination compared to health care worker controls and plasma from previously infected patients. In a recent preprint, not yet [...]

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appeared that a hyperinflammatory state was responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in adults with acute COVID-19. In April 2020, however, the first cases of a post-COVID multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was described. This condition can be challenging to diagnose, as MIS-C manifests symptoms that are also associated with toxic shock syndrome and [...]

A recent preprint, not yet peer reviewed, by CITF Testing Working Group members Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras from University of Toronto, and Dr. Steven Drews from Canadian Blood Services, compared multiple assays and concluded ‘Made-in-Canada’ ones performed well.   Blood samples were collected through Canadian Blood Services between April and September 2020. A total of 8999 donors across Canada were included. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were assessed [...]

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is increased interest in vitamin D and its role in supporting innate immune responses to respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. CITF-funded researcher and member of the CITF Pediatric Network Dr. Jonathon Maguire from University of Toronto, contributed to a systematic review and meta-analysis recently published in The Lancet which aggregated data from 43 randomized controlled trials. The [...]