UCLA leads CDC-funded study on effectiveness of vaccines, boosters in ‘next phase’ of COVID

Key takeaways:A 2021 –22 study by the same researchers showed that vaccines were highly effective at preventing symptomatic infection among health care workers.​​​​​​The COVID-19 landscape has now changed, with more breakthrough infections, the emergence of new variants and the availability of variant-specific boosters.The current study, which will stretch into 2023, will offer insight on how to best protect health workers — and the public — in this new phase of the pandemic.The  David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has been awarded a $13.6 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue to study the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the long-term impact of infection among U.S. health care workers.The new yearlong grant project follows the 2020 –21Preventing Emerging Infections Through Vaccine Effectiveness Testingstudy, or PREVENT I, which was among the first to demonstrate thereal-world benefit of mRNA vaccines in preventing symptomatic infection following their authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.PREVENT II, co-coordinated with the University of Iowa ’s Carver College of Medicine, will examine the effectiveness not only of initial vaccinations but of boosters, including those newly authorized for specific virus variants, in a pandemic environment that has changed significantly over the past year, said Dr. David Talan, a professor of emergency medicine and infectious diseases at the Geffen School an...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news