Vaccine Effectiveness: The Basics and Beyond - hosted by the CVPD

This webinar was hosted by the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases (CVPD) on May 10, 2023.
Understanding the effectiveness of vaccines in real-world settings is critical to immunization policy and decision making. Calculating vaccine effectiveness (VE) has unique challenges, including selection of study design, use of available data, focus on outcomes of interest, and correct interpretation.
Watch Dr. Ramandip Grewal and Dr. Sarah Buchan provide a high-level overview of these considerations, including discussion of how VE calculations have been applied to recent decision making for COVID-19 immunizations.
Dr. Sarah Buchan is a Scientist at Public Health Ontario (PHO) in Health Protection where she conducts applied public health research related to the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable and other infectious diseases. Her interests include studying the burden of respiratory viruses in high-risk populations, assessing vaccine effectiveness, and estimating vaccine coverage. She currently holds funds to study the burden of RSV in Ontario in order to prepare for potential immunization strategies. Since 2020, she has supported the provincial COVID-19 response by contributing to analyses related to COVID-19 burden, transmission, immunization program impact and vaccine effectiveness in order to inform decision making.
Dr. Ramandip Grewal is a scientist at Public Health Ontario in Health Protection and at the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the University of Toronto. She conducts research on the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases including vaccine-preventable diseases. Dr. Grewal’s research interests include evaluating and determining barriers and facilitators of uptake of public health programs, including vaccination programs. She has recently led studies estimating the vaccine effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among long-term care residents and community-dwelling adults in Ontario.
About the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases (CVPD):
With leadership housed at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, we are developing an interdisciplinary group of academic researchers, educators and public health advocates. Our vision is to catalyze cutting-edge research and education that maximizes the health benefits of immunization for everyone.