Research summary
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted key gaps in our knowledge of how respiratory viruses spread and how best to use vaccines. We still don’t fully understand the impact of prior-year vaccination against influenza, and when it comes to COVID-19, we don’t know how long the protection offered by mRNA COVID-19 vaccines lasts, the optimal timing and number of booster doses needed, or the effects of recurrent vaccination. Dr. Mark Loeb, Canada Research Chair in Infectious Diseases, is trying to shed light on these puzzles by studying the prevention of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).
He and his research team are running randomized trials of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines in long-term care residents, conducting cohort studies in the Hutterite community, and analyzing banked specimens and data from previous trials in Hutterite colonies. The data they gather will inform vaccine policy decisions, including the annual selection of influenza vaccines and the usefulness of third doses of mRNA vaccines.