Publications by authors named "Samantha E Kaweski"

The Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) reports interim 2024/25 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against acute respiratory illness due to laboratory-confirmed influenza during a delayed season of predominant A(H1N1)pdm09 and lower A(H3N2) co-circulation. Through mid-January, the risk of outpatient illness due to influenza A is reduced by about half among vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals. Adjusted VE is 53% (95% CI: 36-65) against A(H1N1)pdm09, comprised of clades 5a.

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The Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network reports mid-season 2023/24 influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 63% (95% CI: 51-72) against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, lower for clade 5a.2a.1 (56%; 95% CI: 33-71) than clade 5a.

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Background: Population-based cross-sectional serosurveys within the Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada, showed about 10%, 40% and 60% of residents were infected with SARS-CoV-2 by the sixth (September 2021), seventh (March 2022) and eighth (July 2022) serosurveys. We conducted the ninth (December 2022) and tenth (July 2023) serosurveys and sought to assess risk of severe outcomes from a first-ever SARS-CoV-2 infection during intersurvey periods.

Methods: Using increments in cumulative infection-induced seroprevalence, population census, discharge abstract and vital statistics data sets, we estimated infection hospitalization and fatality ratios (IHRs and IFRs) by age and sex for the sixth to seventh (Delta/Omicron-BA.

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The Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) during the unusually early 2022/23 influenza A(H3N2) epidemic. Like vaccine, circulating viruses were clade 3C.2a1b.

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Background: The evolving proportion of the population considered immunologically naive versus primed for more efficient immune memory response to SARS-CoV-2 has implications for risk assessment. We sought to chronicle vaccine- and infection-induced seroprevalence across the first 7 waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada.

Methods: During 8 cross-sectional serosurveys conducted between March 2020 and August 2022, we obtained anonymized residual sera from children and adults who attended an outpatient laboratory network in the Lower Mainland (Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley).

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Article Synopsis
  • Influenza virus cases in Canada dropped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic but began to rise again in spring 2022 as restrictions eased.
  • The Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network found that the 2021/22 vaccine was only 36% effective against late-season influenza A(H3N2) infections, which were notably different from the vaccine strain.
  • These results support the World Health Organization's decision to modify the 2022/23 northern hemisphere vaccine to better target the emerging A(H3N2) clade 3C.2a1b.2a.2 strain.
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