Canada Investigates COVID-19 Vaccines Impact on Transplant Recipients

A national research study has been launched in Canada to investigate the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in transplant recipients. Through its COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) and Vaccine Surveillance Reference Group (VSRG), the Government of Canada announced on July 22, 2021, that it is investing over $2.84 million in this research study.

This effort is based at University Health Network and called PREVenT COVID, short for Prospective Evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccine in Transplant Recipients: A National Strategy.

“Because people who have received a solid organ transplant and other immunosuppressed individuals are generally excluded from clinical trials of vaccines, little data exists to guide clinical best practices for these populations,” commented Dr. Deepali Kumar, project lead, Clinician Investigator at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Director of Transplant Infectious Diseases at the Ajmera Transplant Centre, in a related press statement.

“Our research will address this knowledge gap by revealing how transplant recipients—who are on immune-suppressing medications to prevent organ rejection—respond to COVID-19 vaccines."

"We will compare their immune responses to non-transplanted individuals as well as those who have contracted COVID-19," said Dr. Kumar.

With this funding, Dr. Kumar’s team intends to focus on multiple transplant centers to examine short- and long-term antibody responses in transplant recipients following first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

The research team will compare these responses to healthy individuals who have not undergone transplants and transplant recipients who naturally contracted COVID-19.

The Government of Canada established the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force in late April 2020.

In January 2021, Canada established an Expert Panel (report) to identify the key knowledge gaps related to research on vaccination in recipients and then held a follow-up Workshop (view this report) with approximately 40 stakeholder organizations to prioritize, align, and begin planning studies. On April 23, 2021, a second National Workshop focused on communication of vaccination research with transplant patients and families (report forthcoming).

The Task Force is overseen by a Leadership Group of volunteers that includes leading Canadian scientists and experts from universities and healthcare facilities across Canada who are focused on understanding the nature of immunity arising from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. 

Note: Only vaccines proven to be safe, effective, and of high quality are Authorized for use in Canada, says the government's website. As of July 16, 2021, the following COVID-19 vaccines are available in Canada: Comirnaty, CoviShield, Janssen, and SpikeVax. The list of drugs and vaccine applications received by the Canadian government is found on this webpage.