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Research

The short term safety of COVID-19 vaccines in Australia: AusVaxSafety active surveillance, February – August 2021

To assess the short term safety of the COVID-19 vaccines Comirnaty (Pfizer–BioNTech BNT162b2) and Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca ChAdOx1) in Australia.

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COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of health care workers in Perth, Western Australia: A qualitative study

Health care workers (HCWs) faced an increased risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout commenced in February 2021 to priority groups, including HCWs. Given their increased risk, as well as influence on patients’ vaccine uptake, it was important that HCWs had a positive COVID-19 vaccination experience, as well as trusting the vaccine safety and efficacy data.

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Adverse event reports of anaphylaxis after Comirnaty and Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccinations, Western Australia, 22 February to 30 June 2021

Within the first 4 months of the Western Australian COVID-19 immunisation programme, 49 suspected anaphylaxis cases were reported to the vaccine safety surveillance system. Twelve reports met Brighton Collaboration case definition, corresponding to rates of 15.9 and 17.7 per million doses of Vaxzevria and Comirnaty administered respectively.

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Characterising the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein antibody response

SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein antibodies can be used to identify the serological response to natural infection in those who have previously received a COVID-19 spike-based vaccine. Anti-N antibody responses can also be induced by inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccines, such as CoronaVac. We aimed to characterise antibody responses to the N protein following COVID-19 and following vaccination with CoronaVac.

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Early treatment with fluvoxamine, bromhexine, cyproheptadine, and niclosamide to prevent clinical deterioration in patients with symptomatic COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial

Repurposed drugs with host-directed antiviral and immunomodulatory properties have shown promise in the treatment of COVID-19, but few trials have studied combinations of these agents. The aim of this trial was to assess the effectiveness of affordable, widely available, repurposed drugs used in combination for treatment of COVID-19, which may be particularly relevant to low-resource countries. 

Research

Association between vaccination status, symptom identification and healthcare use: Implications for test negative design observational studies

To test the internal validity of the test-negative design (TND) by investigating associations between maternal influenza vaccination, and new virus detection episodes (VDEs), acute respiratory illness, and healthcare visits in their children.

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The impact of new universal child influenza programs in Australia: Vaccine coverage, effectiveness and disease epidemiology in hospitalised children in 2018

A significant reduction in severe influenza was observed in Australian children, possibly contributed to by improved vaccine coverage and high vaccine effectiveness

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Clinical protocol for a longitudinal cohort study to identify markers of vaccine immunogenicity in newborn infants in the gambia and papua New Guinea

Immunity is distinct in early life and greater precision is required in our understanding of mechanisms of early life protection to inform development of new pediatric vaccines

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Improving Vaccine-Induced Immunity: Can Baseline Predict Outcome?

Baseline signatures might contribute to identifying interventional targets to be modulated prior to vaccination in order to improve vaccination responses

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Immunisation with the BCG and DTPw vaccines induces different programs of trained immunity in mice

In addition to providing pathogen-specific immunity, vaccines can also confer nonspecific effects (NSEs) on mortality and morbidity unrelated to the targeted disease. Immunisation with live vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, has generally been associated with significantly reduced all-cause infant mortality. In contrast, some inactivated vaccines, such as the diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell pertussis (DTPw) vaccine, have been controversially associated with increased all-cause mortality especially in female infants in high-mortality settings.