2022 Project: Yale School of Public Health

Transmissibility and immune escape of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants

What to know

Researchers combine data from genomic surveillance with clinical, experimental laboratory, and epidemiological data with the overarching goal to better understand SARS-CoV-2 variant evolution, emergence, and transmission.

Decorative image with words "2022" and "SARS-CoV-2"

Findings on SARS-CoV-2 variant characteristics

This research aims to continuously evaluate the influence of SARS-CoV-2 variants on transmission and escape from vaccine-induced immunity to aid response planning and inform vaccine dosing and design strategies in real time.

This project:

  • Explored inefficiencies in protective antiviral immunity during the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 wave, particularly amongst older adults. 1

New SARS-CoV-2 dashboards and websites

Researchers continue to maintain and update widely used databases for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, including:

  • Covidtrackerct.com, which provides weekly variant estimates for Connecticut, standard frequencies, estimates of infections, and variant-specific information.
  • Covidestim.org, which provides weekly updates of total estimated infections for each US state.

Awarded in 2022, this project is still in progress.

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Content Source:
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)
  1. Age-dependent impairment in antibody responses elicited by a homologous CoronaVac booster dose - PubMed (nih.gov). Sci Transl Med 2023