Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Nairobi, Kenya. Photo by Amani Nation via Unsplash.

By Naomi Frim-Abrams

On March 20, 2024, the Spring 2024 Human Capital Initiative Research Seminar Series hosted Elisa Maffioli, Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan, to discuss her forthcoming study on the effect of social influence on vaccination behavior during COVID-19 in Kenya. The study evaluates a campaign where healthcare providers would visit homes and invite adults to be vaccinated at a site nearby, randomizing the announcement of the visit ahead of time.

COVID-19 vaccines are a vital public health intervention, but are not yet widespread globally, especially in the study area of Kenya. At the time of the study, in Summer 2022, there were 337,000 confirmed cases and 5,670 deaths from COVID-19 in Kenya, and 56 percent of the study sample population had never received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

There are positive externalities to vaccines, and social influence can play a role in vaccine uptake. Maffioli and her research partners focused their study on two research questions: Can convenient access and invitations increase vaccination uptake, and does social influence promote vaccination?

The literature review examined supply and demand barriers to vaccine uptake, as well as the role of social pressure with a specific focus on the influence of healthcare providers. Prior research explored obstacles such as vaccine hesitancy and access; Maffiolis project builds on these ideas by providing both convenience of vaccination and personal invitations through healthcare workers.

Elisa and her fellow researchers decided to follow the Kenyan governments footsteps and mimicked their national COVID-19 vaccine deployment campaign. The researchers tried to address issues of both supply (setting up local vaccination sites) and demand (nudges by sending healthcare workers door-to-door) to improve vaccine uptake. They utilized a one-day vaccination campaign intervention to see the effects of the healthcare workers home visits more clearly, as the researchers could control for the spread of information and make sure that the campaign was being promoted by the healthcare workers alone, rather than news spreading through other community members. Researchers met with village elders to determine ideal sites for vaccinations that were public and identifiable such as churches, schools and community meeting spaces. The sample included randomly selected residents within a 15-minute walking radius of these sites.

The treatment used in this study, whether a healthcare workers visits were announced or unannounced, was randomized, and participants were not aware of which group they were part. Participants in the announced group were informed that a healthcare worker would visit their home within 30 minutes to ask if they wanted to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the nearby site. Participants in the unannounced group received the health worker visit without being informed ahead of time.

Overall, the authors found an increase in dose uptake at the day of the campaign, and the effects were consistent after three months since the intervention. However, they found no evidence of social pressure by healthcare workers: those in the announced group were instead more likely to go and get vaccinated. Maffioli also discussed cost-effectiveness and policy implications. The researchers calculated that the marginal cost per marginal dose of their intervention, based on their data on recorded costs and the number of doses, was $41.76; for context, the most similar study on COVID-19 vaccinations in Sierra Leone estimated the implementation cost to be $33 per additional person vaccinated. In terms of policy, she spoke to the need to test alternative approaches to find even more cost-effective strategies, such as training community health volunteers or using alternative public transportation.

Throughout the presentation, the audience raised various questions about both the study elements and results. Maffioli first addressed comments as to whether historically there has been backlash against vaccination campaigns in Kenya, and if there is mistrust of medical personnel; she responded that there are actually high levels of trust in medical interventions, however, this was not entirely relevant to her research, as her team was addressing social pressure in uptake through the announced treatment. Others inquired about the privacy of the healthcare worker visit, and whether news of the intervention spread through community members overhearing or seeing the healthcare worker. She acknowledged that this was a strong point of feedback for the study, and they had not asked the healthcare workers to record whether they noticed others unintentionally witnessing their interactions with the participant. In terms of study design, an audience member asked about the randomization of the vaccination sites, as the locations were non-randomized and chosen after discussions with community elders.

Maffiolis research speaks to the health challenges of today, examining how an interdisciplinary approach can aid understanding of social barriers to health interventions. She commented in her conclusion that the delivery and acceptance of new vaccines should be a top global priority. A mode of vaccine delivery, such as the one explored in the study, that addresses barriers to vaccine supply and demand, and receives no backlash if provided by healthcare workers, remains a cost-effective strategy to increase vaccinations.

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Posted3 days ago on Thursday, March 28th, 2024

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Seminar Summary Convenient Access and Invitations: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccinations in Kenya | Global ... - Boston University

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Sinus Tachycardia Following COVID-19 and Its Implications - Cureus

In February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, recommended adults aged 65 and older receive a vaccine dose.

Adults aged 65 and older are considered the most vulnerable population when it comes to COVID-19 complications. This group has a higher prevalence of chronic conditions and a diminished immune response, making them more susceptible to severe infections, hospitalization and mortality.

Their immune systems are not as robust as the younger population, explains infectious diseases physician Carlos A. Gomez, MD. Because of this, vaccine efficacy could be lower and wane over time.

A report published by the CDC in February examined the updated vaccines effectiveness. The study found that the vaccine was 50% effective in preventing emergency department and urgent care visits, primary indicators of COVID-19 complications.

Dr. Gomez emphasizes that, while the updated vaccine does not entirely prevent COVID-19 infection, the studys findings are encouraging, showing decreased health care utilization.

While 50% effectiveness is not a perfect outcome, it means that patients who receive the booster have half the risk compared with those who didnt, Dr. Gomez says. They still may become infected, but its quite encouraging that they have half the risk of going to the emergency department or urgent care.

The adverse side effects of the updated COVID-19 vaccine remain consistent with previous versions and may include:

Side effects are very mild and go away within two or three days, so this version is very similar to other vaccines we have in the health care system and previous COVID-19 boosters, Dr. Gomez says.

It is recommended that individuals get their booster shot within two months of receiving either their initial vaccination or a previous booster shot. This timeline ensures that the immune response remains robust and provides optimal protection against COVID-19.

And what if you have had a COVID-19 infection are the antibodies your body produced naturally enough to protect you?

If you fall into a group that needs the vaccine, it is better to get it now, even if you have had COVID-19 before, Dr. Gomez says. Between an infection and the vaccine, you will have a greater variety of antibodies and a more robust immune response.

While the CDC specifically emphasized the importance of boosters for adults aged 65 and older, other groups may also benefit from the updated vaccine, such as:

Around 3% of the U.S. population is immunocompromised, Dr. Gomez says. These patients should have an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect them from bad outcomes.

If you are unsure whether you need a COVID-19 booster, your primary care provider can help you make the determination.

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Do I need a COVID-19 booster this spring? - Nebraska Medicine

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Multifaceted Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction ... - Cureus

As the world marks four years since the spread of COVID-19, scientists, public health officials, and economists are taking stockwith decidedly mixed results. Millions of people around the world died from COVID-19 or related diseases. But millions were also saved by vaccines. In a study published in 2021, scientists put the chances of a major pandemic occurring in any given year at 2 percenta daunting figure, given the death and damage wrought by COVID-19.

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COVID Vaccines Saved Millions of Lives but Absolved Countries From Fixing Core Problems - Foreign Policy

One dose of the updated, single-strain COVID-19 vaccine introduced last fall is 38% effective against hospitalization in the 7 to 59 days after receipt and 34% effective at 60 to 119 days in adults with weakened immune systems, yet uptake in this group is low, estimates a study published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers led the study, which was based on data from the Virtual SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, and Other respiratory viruses Network (VISION) collected from September 2023 to February 2024. VISION is a multisiteelectronic health care recordsbased network that uses a test-negative design to estimate COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE).

In the study, 1,392 case-patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 and tested negative for both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, while 13,194 control patients tested negative for both COVID-19 and flu. The most common immunocompromising conditions among case-patients and controls were solid-organ cancer (36% and 43%, respectively) and other immune conditions or immunodeficiency (38% and 35%, respectively).

In total, 195 case-patients (14%) had received an updated COVID-19 vaccine dose, compared with 2,401 (18%) of controls. Participants were categorized as having an impaired immune system based on certain diagnoses at hospital release.

One vaccine dose is recommended for all Americans aged 6 months or older, although people with weakened immune systems, who are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 due to their underlying conditions and to decreased immune responses to vaccination, might need additional doses at 2 months or more after the last recommended dose, the study authors noted.

Among those with an organ or stem cell transplant, a group known to be at particularly high risk for severe COVID-19, only 18% had received an updated dose, representing a missed opportunity to prevent severe COVID-19.

VE against COVID-related hospitalization was 38% in the 7 to 59 days after receipt of one dose and 34% at the 60 to 119 days.

"Relatively few persons in this analysis had received an updated COVID-19 vaccine dose, despite those with immunocompromising conditions being at higher risk for severe COVID-19," the researchers wrote. "For example, among those with an organ or stem cell transplant, a group known to be at particularly high risk for severe COVID-19, only 18% had received an updated dose, representing a missed opportunity to prevent severe COVID-19."

The CDC will continue to track the VE of updated COVID-19 vaccines in high-risk groups such as those with impaired immune systems. "All persons aged 6 months should receive updated 20232024 COVID-19 vaccination; persons with immunocompromising conditions may get additional updated COVID-19 vaccine doses 2 months after the last recommended COVID-19 vaccine," the authors concluded.

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Study: COVID booster cuts severe COVID risk by a third in patients with weak immune systems - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Nikos Pekiaridis | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The update brings Moderna a step closer to having multiple products on the market, which it badly needs amid plunging demand for Covid shots worldwide. The company's Covid jab is its only commercially available product.

Moderna's stock has long been tied to that vaccine, with shares falling nearly 45% last year.But shares of the company closed 3% higher on Wednesday after the announcements.

Moderna will chart its post-Covid future Wednesday during its fifth annual "Vaccines Day," an investor event in Boston focused on the company's vaccine portfolio.

That business has an estimated total addressable market of $52 billion for infectious disease shots, which includes $27 billion for respiratory vaccines and more than $25 billion for latent shots and other jabs.

A category of viruses called latent viruses linger inside patients for prolonged periods without causing any symptoms but can "reactivate" and cause serious health complications later in their lives. They represent a huge unmet need that Moderna can address, Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday.

"Once those viruses are in your body, it's in your body forever," he said, adding that there are no approved shots for several of the latent viruses, including some that Moderna is targeting.

The company will present new clinical trial data on the three vaccines, including some against latent viruses, at the event Wednesday.

Those vaccines include a shot against norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhea; a vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus, a common herpes virus that can cause contagious infections and is associated with some cancers; and a shot designed to target a virus that causes shingles and chickenpox.

Moderna will also discuss other updates across its vaccine business. The company has five other shots in late-stage clinical trials and said it expects to release data on two of those jabs this year. That includes its combination vaccine against Covid and the flu and a shot against another common herpes virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV.

Among the other vaccines in late-stage development is a jab against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which is expected to win regulatory approval in the U.S. in May.

It also includes a new and improved version of Moderna's Covid shot. The company on Tuesday said its "next-generation" Covid shot triggered a stronger immune response against the virus than its current vaccine on the market in a late-stage clinical trial.

Another shot in phase three trials is the company's flu vaccine.

Also on Wednesday, Moderna said it recently entered into a development and commercialization funding agreement with Blackstone Life Sciences, a private equity segment of The Blackstone Group. Blackstone will fund up to $750 million to advance Moderna's flu shot program, with "a return based on commercial milestones" and low single-digit royalties.

Bancel told CNBC the company's messenger RNA platform, used in its Covid vaccine, "is working so well" against other diseases. That mRNA technology works by teaching the body to produce a harmless piece of a virus, which triggers an immune response against certain diseases.

"Think about the [total addressable market] Moderna is going after we're going to be one of the most important vaccine companies in the world," he said.

Still, it will take time before Moderna's pipeline will pay off.

The company in its third-quarter earnings release in November said it expects revenue to fall to $4 billion in 2024 before it grows again in 2025. It expects to break even in 2026, executives said during a November earnings call.

Moderna's latest shots to move into late-stage trials represent significant opportunities for the company.

There is currently no approved shot to prevent norovirus, the most common cause of the stomach flu. The virus results in approximately 200,000 deaths per year and substantial health-care costs, according to Moderna.

The company examined two different norovirus shot candidates in a phase one trial on more than 600 patients ages 18 to 49 and 60 to 80 in the U.S.

An interim analysis showed that a single dose of a trivalent vaccine called mRNA-1403 targeting three norovirus strains triggered a strong immune response across all dose sizes. The shot also had a "clinically acceptable" safety profile.

Moderna said it is moving that shot to a phase three trial.The market for norovirus vaccines represents a $3 billion to $6 billion annual market, according to the company.

Grace Cary | Moment | Getty Images

There are also no shots currently approved to prevent Epstein-Barr virus. It accounts for more than 90% of cases of infectious mononucleosis, a contagious infection known as mono, which can cause fever, sore throat and chronic fatigue.

Both the virus and mono are associated with a higher risk of certain cancers. The virus also increases a patient's risk of developing multiple sclerosis by 32-fold, according to Moderna. That disease is characterized by the the immune system eating away at the protective covering of nerves.

"It's a big issue for teenagers. There are sometimes kids who have to redo a year of high school or college, which is a big waste of your life," Bancel said. "But it has also been associated with multiple sclerosis, which is a terrible disease affecting mostly women ... so we think we could prevent that."

Moderna has been developing two shots designed to tackle multiple conditions associated with Epstein-Barr virus. That includes a shot designed to prevent mono called mRNA-1189, which will move to a phase three study after positive early stage trial data.

A phase one trial examined that vaccine in patients 12 to 30 years old in the U.S. The study found that the shot produced an immune response against mono and was overall well tolerated across all dose sizes.

Moderna is developing another shot called mRNA-1195, which is designed to target multiple sclerosis and a subcategory of lymphoma in solid organ transplant patients. A phase one trial on that vaccine is fully enrolled, according to the company.

Bancel said the company believes the Epstein-Barr virus will be "a several billion dollar market."

Varicella-Zoster virus causes both chickenpox and shingles. Older adults have declining immunity against that virus, making them more vulnerable to developing painful, itchy and blister-like rashes. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. will develop shingles at some point in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Moderna studied its vaccine against the virus, mRNA-1468, in an early to mid-stage trial on healthy adults ages 50 and older in the U.S.

The shot caused a strong immune response at one month after the second dose and was generally well tolerated by patients, according to the company. Additional data from that ongoing trial will be available later this year.

Moderna estimates that the market for Varicella-Zoster virus could be $5 billion to $6 billion annually.

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Moderna moves three vaccines into final stage trials as it works to rebound from Covid slump - CNBC

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The global SARS-CoV-2 reinfection rate was just under 1% as of a year ago, with significant differences by variant, country, and time, according to a meta-analysis of 55 studies on more than 111,000 cases.

Published in BMC Infectious Diseases, the meta-regression analysis by Sichuan University researchers in China included 46 cohort, 6 case-control, and 3 cross-sectional studies on COVID-19 reinfection rates up to March 2023. Reinfections were considered those identified more than 90 days after a primary case. Possible resurgences or vaccine breakthrough infections were not included.

"Reinfections have been reported continuously since the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, and especially after the Omicron variant became a major prevalent variant worldwide, there has been a significant increase in the number of reported SARS-CoV-2 reinfections globally," the researchers wrote.

Overall, the COVID-19 reinfection ranged from 0% to 28.4%, and the pooled reinfection rate was 0.9%. There were statistically significant rate differences by variant: 0.3% for the wild-type virus, 0.6% for the Alpha variant, 0.4% for Delta, and 4.1% for Omicron.

Reinfections have been reported continuously since the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, and especially after the Omicron variant became a major prevalent variant worldwide.

Brazil had the highest reinfection rate (6.6%), while Spain's rate was 0.3%. The rate varied over time, with the first notable change on day 154 (1.1%). The highest rate occurred on day 361 (2.9%). The US SARS-CoV-2 reinfection rate peaked at 0.2% on day 167.

While the second wave peak was lower than that in the first, the third wave peak was significantly higher. "We speculated that one of the reasons why the third peak was higher than the first peak might be caused by the weakening of the populations immunity level over time," the authors wrote. "This phenomenon might be due to the fact that immunization levels decreased over time after vaccination or infection with SARS-CoV-2."

"Our results warn us that the natural decay of immune levels over time may lead to the reinfection of SARS-CoV-2, resulting in a new round of COVID-19 pandemic," they added.

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Meta-analysis: Global COVID reinfection rate less than 1%, depending on variant, country, time - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

The latest United Nations Human Development Report details vastly uneven economic and social development that is leaving the worlds poorest people behind, worsening inequality and stoking political polarization.

The 2023/24 Human Development Report, Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world, reveals that the post-pandemic rebound in the global Human Development Index (HDI)a summary measure reflected a countrys Gross National Income per capita, education and life expectancyhas been partial, incomplete and unequal.

The pandemic precipitated the worlds greatest recession since World War II, with global output falling three times more than during the 20072008 global financial crisis and far more abruptly, as economic activities came to a halt. Global unemployment rates have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, pushing more workers into the informal sector where they work for a pittance.

The report, despite the bland and under-stated language of such official publications, makes important points about the worlds growing interdependence amid prolonged power imbalances.

While the advanced countries are experiencing record-high levels of human development, half of the poorest countries have failed to reach their pre-COVID-19 levels. The pandemic led to at least 15 million deaths, the report states, more than all the recent pandemics combined (Asian Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Swine Flu, SARS, Ebola and MERS). The HDIs estimate of global COVID deaths is a conservative one with the more accurate Economist survey estimating approaching 30 million excess global deaths up to the end of 2023. It not only reduced life expectancy at birth in most countries but also impaired other components of the HDI, interrupting access to education and leaving enduring scars on the economy.

This was compounded by what the report described as the mismanagement of global interdependences, more accurately described as the criminality of the major powers in the interests of the financial oligarchy. It cited the refusal of the most advanced countries and pharmaceutical companies to ensure the universal and equitable access to effective COVID-19 vaccineswhose development was the result of international scientific cooperation--both within and between countries. Similarity it referred, without explanation, to the huge disparity in measures taken by governments, meaning the refusal of all governments to take the stringent measures initially embraced by China that would have stopped the virus spreading.

The global HDI value has rebounded to a projected highest level ever in 2023. But this is still below its projected trend pre-pandemic and masks profounds divergence across countries. All 38 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) achieved higher HDI scores compared to their levels in 2019. But among the 35 least developed countries that saw their HDI decline during the pandemic, more than half (18 countries with 328 million people) have not yet recovered to their 2019 levels.

None of the developing regions have met their expected HDI levels based on their pre-2019 trend, shifting instead to a lower HDI trajectory and indicating that these losses are likely to be permanent. This is seen most sharply in Afghanistan and Ukraine, with Afghanistans HDI set back by a staggering 10 years and Ukraines HDI to its lowest level since 2004.

It warns that the global HDI value, while an important value, is a crude yardstick for measuring human development. It reflects incompletely, if at all, to important factors such as the debilitating effects of illnesses, including Long COVID, spikes in mental health disorders, violence against women and loss of schooling, while some lossesincluding 15 million lives lostcan never be recovered. Self-reported stress, sadness and worry rose in most countries, even before the pandemic, which along with the rising sense of dissatisfaction which recent Human Development Reports had covered, had resulted in numerous social protests in 2019.

The report warns that inequality is compounded by substantial economic concentration. For example, it states that almost 40 percent of global trade in goods is concentrated in three or four countries, while the market capitalization of each of the three largest tech companies in the world in 2023 surpassed the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than 90 percent of countries in that year.

The UNHD also drew attention to the worlds growing interdependence.

* Trade in intermediate goods now slightly exceeds trade in final goods, with goods travelling twice as far as and across more borders than they did 60 years ago.

* Financial interdependence has grown, with levels of debt servicing by low and middle-income countries ballooning since central banks hiked interest rates to combat inflation following the outbreak of the US/NATO led war against Russia in Ukraine.

* Digital services exports now account for more than half of global trade in services. Almost everyone is now within range of a mobile broadband network, with 5.4 billion of the worlds 8 billion population using the internet in 2023.

Mehring Books

COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic

A compilation of the World Socialist Web Site's coverage of this global crisis, available in epub and print formats.

* The number of people living outside their country of birth has tripled since 1970, from 84 million to nearly 280 million in 2020, equal to 3.6 percent of the worlds population. As well as increasing social, cultural and economic ties, it drives cross-border financial flows.

In addition, the report cites the pandemic, climate change, biodiversity loss, the cross-border implications of pollution and new and reemerging zoonotic diseases potentially resulting in future pandemics that recognize no borders. It warns that every corner of the globe is feeling the effects of dangerous planetary change driven by political choices, while geopolitical tensions, wars and conflicts harm human developmentboth for the countries directly involved and often for many others as well. These conflicts are spilling across not only geographical but generational boundaries, with the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Yemen reversing human development gains made over generations and shrinking the prospects for young people.

The number of countries involved in conflicts outside their own borders has risen fivefold over the past decade. Of the 55 state-based conflicts in 2022, 22 were internationalized, compared with just 4 of the 37 state conflicts in 2000. This, along with persecution and human rights violations, forced 108 million people to flee their homes, the largest number since World War II and two and a half times that of 2010, not including the latest displacementsPalestinians in Gaza and the Armenia refugee crisis, among others.

One in five children globally lives in or is fleeing conflict. Around 80 percent of the worlds refugees are living in mostly low and middle-income countries. The number of people in need of humanitarian aid is expected to reach 300 million in 2024, while the funding available for humanitarian aid comes nowhere near the level needed.

The report laments the growth of populism, which it says has been fueled by social inequality and the pervasive uncertainty complex that has cast a very long shadow on human development writ large, with recent years marking perhaps an unfortunate and avoidable fork in its path rather than a short-lived setback. It cites research showing that countries with populist governments have lower GDP-growth rates10 percent lower than might be expected under a non-populist government scenario.

Like all such reports, its authors called for multilateralism to play the key role in developing and implementing a new generation of global public goods to confront these challenges and promote equity. Such a bankrupt perspective flies in the face of all the evidence that these same multilateral agencies, dominated by the major capitalist powers acting in the interests of their own global banks and corporations, have fueled the processes they have documented.

The elimination of global inequality demands the mass mobilization of the working class internationally against their exploiters, the capitalist class, its governments, corporations and banks responsible for the impoverishment of humanity and plunging the world into war. It requires an international socialist strategy, uniting workers and youth in the advanced and less developed countries to end the division of the world into antagonistic nation states and implement planned production for need, not profit through a struggle for world socialist revolution.

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UN report highlights growing global inequality following COVID-19 pandemic - WSWS

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Posted: March 28, 2024

New guidelines suggest certain high-risk groups could benefit from having another dose of aCOVID-19vaccinethis spring and more frequent shots in general while the broader population could be entering once-a-year territory, much like an annual flu shot.

Medical experts told CBC News that falling behind on the latest shots can come with health risks, particularly for individuals who are older or immunocompromised.

"Even when the risk of infection starts to increase, the vaccines still do a really good job at decreasing risk of severe disease," said McMaster University researcher and immunologist Matthew Miller.

Back in January, Canada's national vaccine advisory body set the stage for another round of spring vaccinations. In a statement, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) stated that starting in spring 2024, individuals at an increased risk of severe COVID may get an extra dose of the latest XBB.1.5-based vaccines, which better protect against circulating virus variants.

That means:

The various spring recommendations don't focus on pregnancy, despite research showing clear links between a COVID infection while pregnant, and increased health risks. However, federal guidance does note that getting vaccinated during pregnancy can protect against serious outcomes.

"Vaccinated people can also pass antibodies to their baby through the placenta and through breastmilk," that guidance states.

Multiple provinces have started rolling out their own regional guidance based on those early recommendations with a focus on allowing similar high-risk groups to get another round of vaccinations.

B.C. is set to announce guidance on spring COVID vaccines in early April, officials told CBC News, and those recommendations are expected to align with NACI's guidance.

In Manitoba, high-risk individuals are already eligible for another dose, provided it's been at least three months since their latest COVID vaccine.

Meanwhile Ontario's latest guidance, released on March 21, stresses that high-risk individuals may get an extra dose during a vaccine campaign set to run between April and June. Eligibility will involve waiting six months after someone's last dose or COVID infection.

Having a spring dose "is particularly important for individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 who did not receive a dose during the Fall 2023 program," the guidance notes.

And in Nova Scotia, the spring campaign will run from March 25 to May 31, also allowing high-risk individuals to get another dose.

Specific eligibility criteria vary slightly from province-to-province, so Canadians should check with their primary care provider, pharmacistor local public health team for exact guidelines in each area.

WATCH: Age still best determines when to get next COVID vaccine dose, research suggests:

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The rationale behind the latest spring guidelines, Miller said, is that someone's age remains one of the greatest risk factors associated with severe COVID outcomes, including hospitalization, intensive care admissionand death.

"So that risk starts to shoot up at about 50, but really takes off in individuals over the age of 75," he noted.

Canadian data suggests the overwhelming majority of COVID deaths have been among older adults, with nearly 60 per cent of deaths among those aged 80 or older, and roughly 20 per cent among those aged 70 to 79.

People with compromised immune systems or serious medical conditions are also more vulnerable, Miller added.

While the general population may not require shots as frequently as higher-risk groups, Miller said it's unlikely there will be recommendations any time soon to have a COVID shot less than once a year, given ongoing uncertainty about COVID's trajectory.

"Going forward, I suspect for pragmatic reasons, [COVID vaccinations] will dovetail with seasonal flu vaccine campaigns, just because it makes the implementation much more straightforward," Miller said.

"And although we haven't seen really strong seasonal trends with SARS-CoV-2 now, I suspect we'll get to a place where it's more seasonal than it has been."

In the meantime, the guidance around COVID shots remains simple at its core: Whenever you're eligible to get another dose whether that's once or twice a year you might as well do it.

One analysis, published in early March in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, studied more than 27,000 U.S. patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID, between Septemberand December2023.

The team found individuals who had an updated vaccine reduced their risk of severe illness by close to a third and the difference was more noticeable in older and immunocompromised individuals.

Another American research team from Stanford University recently shared the results from a modelling simulation looking at the ideal frequency for COVID vaccines.

The study in Nature Communications suggests that for individuals aged 75 and up, having an annual COVID shot could reduce severe infections from an estimated 1,400 cases per 100,000 people to around 1,200 cases while bumping to twice a year could cut those cases even further, down to 1,000.

For younger, healthier populations, however, the benefit of regular shots against severe illness was more modest.

The outcome wasn't a surprise to Stanford researcher Dr. Nathan Lo, an infectious diseases specialist, since old age has consistently been a risk factor for severe COVID.

"It's almost the same pattern that's been present the entire pandemic," he said. "And I think that's quite striking."

More frequent vaccination won't prevent all serious infections, he added, or perhaps even a majority of those infections, which highlights the need for ongoing mitigation efforts.

Lauren Pelley Senior Health & Medical Reporter

Lauren Pelley covers health and medical science for CBC News, including the global spread of infectious diseases, Canadian health policy, pandemic preparedness, and the crucial intersection between human health and climate change. Two-time RNAO Media Award winner for in-depth health reporting in 2020 and 2022. Contact her at: lauren.pelley@cbc.ca

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Do you need a spring COVID-19 vaccine? Research backs extra round for high-risk groups - CBC.ca