McMaster University gets federal funding to study COVID-19 in long-term care

McMaster University will be getting $5 million from the federal government to study COVID-19 at long-term care homes.

The study will focus on how well vaccination works in residents and which features of the facilities could be directly linked with outbreaks.

About 70 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in Canada have been in long-term care homes. Ontario has reported 3,888 deaths in residents of these facilities.

The study is being done in partnership with Schlegel Villages, St. Joseph’s Health System, and Health Sciences North Research Institute.

“We aim to determine how well vaccination works in residents of long-term care homes and discover whether a resident’s previous exposure to the virus or immune system response can protect them or make them vulnerable to further infection,” says Andrew Costa, PhD, co-principal investigator of the study.

“We’ll be mapping this information with other available data to better understand the spread of the virus and immunity across the province.”

Co-principal investigator Dawn Bowdish says the research will influence health policy quickly because they are collaborating directly with policymakers.

“Although most residents are dangerously susceptible to COVID-19, some are resilient. Learning about how the immune system helps some residents teaches us how to make better vaccines and protect residents from future outbreaks,” she says.   

McMaster will be receiving $5 million from the federal government for a LTC research study. They’ll be taking blood & saliva from 2k+ residents to see 1) How well vaccine works 2) Whether previous exposure to virus protects them 3) LTC factors linked to outbreaks. @CHCHNews pic.twitter.com/HuwzongYO9

— Sylvie Lendvay (@sylvie_lendvay) March 18, 2021

The study will involve more than 2,000 residents, staff, and visitors of long-term care homes in Ontario over the course of a year.