Halperin, Scott A

Published purpose

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support readiness preparations for CIRN to undertake urgent activities related to COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials and to provide vaccine-related research outcomes that will inform effective, equitable and timely COVID-19 public health decision-making. The proposal will address ALL of the following objectives: • Act with a sense of urgency and coordinate with all relevant stakeholders, including federal, provincial and territorial partners, to ensure Canadian readiness for COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Meeting this objective will help to ensure sufficient COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial capacity and infrastructure are in place when needed and will support the accelerated evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine(s) in Canada. • Proactively communicate with all relevant national and international stakeholders to ensure CIRN is aware of, and aligned with (wherever possible), global COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial strategies to provide the highest possible level of evidence on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine(s). • Assess various models of population prioritization and perform modelling to support the development of evidence-based recommendations for effective and equitable program design and implementation, and knowledge mobilization to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. • Prepare the general public, high-risk populations and the public health community for deployment of COVID-19 vaccine(s), which includes coordinating and/or conducting research related to vaccine hesitancy, acceptance and uptake, and the identification of targeted and culturally appropriate communication and roll-out strategies to optimize uptake. • Seek opportunities for harmonized data collection, open data sharing, and real-world data sharing with relevant knowledge-users to support a timely and effective COVID-19 public health response within and across all jurisdictions in Canada.