Dr. Manish Sadarangani is director of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC Department of Pediatrics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sadarangani’s contributions have been instrumental in the efforts to vaccinate children. He has acted as principal and co-principal investigator(s) on multiple recent research studies investigating the health implications of COVID-19 illness, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations in children and youth in Canada. His ongoing study, the SPRING study, looks for antibodies (against the virus that causes COVID-19) in dried blood samples collected from participants.
Currently recruiting, the SPRING study is looking for children under 10 or individuals 12-24 years old who received at least one COVID-19 vaccination. The study requires low commitment from participants. A study kit will be sent in the mail and participants can self-collect the finger or heel-prick blood sample. Once collected, the kit can be mailed back to VEC and your results will be available upon analysis.
For more information on the study, please visit: https://www.bcchr.ca/vec/research/spring-study
For recent publications, see:
Importance of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in older age groups
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21002887
Immunological mechanisms of vaccine-induced protection against COVID-19 in humans
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-021-00578-z.pdf
COVID-19 pandemic impact on childhood vaccination coverage in Quebec, Canada
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2021.2007707