DoCo-Pro-RBD-1+MF59 / The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Monash University - LARVOL DELTA

Antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccination and breakthrough infections in naïve and convalescent individuals suggest imprinting to the ancestral strain of SARS-CoV-2. (PubMed, mBio) - "The binding and neutralizing activity of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are important correlates of protection of current COVID-19 vaccines...Thus, the study provides unique insights in infection-naïve, vaccinated individuals and those with breakthrough infections with Omicron variants. In this setting, we had an opportunity to demonstrate evidence of antigenic imprinting, with neutralizing antibody responses to the ancestral vaccine antigen being higher than responses to the infecting Omicron variant."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Safety and immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 spike, subunit vaccine stabilised in the prefusion conformation by second generation Molecular Clamp evaluated in adults aged 18-55 years: a randomised, double-blind, active comparator, Phase I trial. (PubMed, J Infect Dis) - P1 | "Cases of confirmed COVID-19 infection during the study were also examined...UQSC2 was equally well tolerated to the authorised comparator vaccine and produced an equally robust boost in neutralising immune response. These findings support the effectiveness of the MC2 platform in producing vaccines against newly emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, and other respiratory viruses, as well as the platform's potential use in emergency response to novel viruses."

Journal • P1 data • Human Immunodeficiency Virus • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

What Drives Vaccine Uptake?-Investigating the Application of the Health Belief Model Through a Longitudinal Cohort Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Victoria, Australia. (PubMed, Vaccines (Basel)) - "The predictive value of two Health Belief Model constructs was context- and time-dependent. Perceived severity consistently predicted vaccine uptake once mandates were lifted, while susceptibility did not. Our findings highlight the importance of context-sensitive behavioral frameworks when designing vaccine promotion strategies during extended public health crises."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease

Dysregulated inflammation in solid tumor malignancy patients shapes polyfunctional antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination. (PubMed, NPJ Vaccines) - "Solid tumor malignancy (STM) patients experience increased risk of breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection owing to reduced COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity...In contrast, mRNA vaccination induced Fc effector functions that were comparable in patients and controls and were cross-reactive against SARS-CoV-2 variants. These data highlight the resilience of Fc functional antibodies and identify systemic inflammatory biomarkers that may underpin impaired neutralizing antibody responses, suggesting potential avenues for immunomodulation via rational vaccine design."

Journal • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Oncology • Respiratory Diseases • Solid Tumor • CD21 • IL18 • IL6 • ITGAX

Health impact and cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 booster vaccination strategies in the early post-Omicron era: a dynamic modelling study. (PubMed, BMJ Glob Health) - "Competing health priorities and resource constraints mean COVID-19 vaccine allocation needs to be carefully considered in context. These results, reflecting modelling conducted on the early post-Omicron period, demonstrate the value of continued booster vaccinations to protect against severe COVID-19 disease outcomes across high-income and middle-income settings and show that the biggest health gains relative to vaccine costs are achieved by targeting older age groups."

HEOR • Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Pediatrics • Respiratory Diseases

Immunogenicity and safety of self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (ARCT-2303), with or without co-administration of seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine in adults: a phase 3, randomised, controlled, observer-blind, multicentre study. (PubMed, EClinicalMedicine) - P3 | "Between March 27, 2024 and April 10, 2025, we performed a randomised, observer-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study with 1499 adult participants to compare immune responses of sa-mRNA vaccine, encoding spike glycoprotein of the XBB.1.5 subvariant (ARCT-2303), with vaccine encoding the ancestral strain (ARCT-154), as measured by geometric mean titres of neutralising antibodies and SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody seroconversion rates against the Omicron XBB.1.5, and to assess the immunological non-inferiority of co-administered ARCT-2303 and influenza vaccines compared with separately administered vaccines, as measured by neutralising antibodies against Omicron XBB.1.5.6 and haemagglutinin inhibition against influenza vaccine strains. We conclude that ARCT-2303 induces a robust immune response against the vaccine variant of SARS-CoV-2 and can be co-administered with licenced influenza vaccines in adults with no impact on the safety or immunogenicity of either..."

Journal • P3 data • Infectious Disease • Influenza • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Genetic markers of enhanced functional antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination. (PubMed, Vaccine) - "Primary COVID-19 vaccination induced increased S2-specific IgG in G1m1,17+/+ vaccinees, facilitating enhanced anti-viral FcγR engagement and suggesting immunogenetics may be a valuble consideration for next-generation vaccine design."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

ARNAX is an ideal adjuvant for COVID-19 vaccines to enhance antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses and neutralizing antibody induction. (PubMed, J Virol) - "The present study using a coronavirus disease 2019 mouse model demonstrated that ARNAX potently induces cellular immunity in addition to humoral immunity with minimal induction of inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, ARNAX has the potential to be used as a potent and welltolerated adjuvant for vaccines against pandemic viruses emerging in the future."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Oncology • Respiratory Diseases • CD4 • CD8

Memory B cell proliferation drives differences in neutralising responses between ChAdOx1 and BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. (PubMed, Front Immunol) - "We used data on the change in memory B cells, plasmablasts, and antibody titres after the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for Australian healthcare workers. We also found that antibody responses after the second dose were more persistent when mRNA vaccines were used over AdV vaccines and for longer dosing regimens. Reconstructing in-host kinetics in response to vaccination could help optimise vaccine dosing regimens, improve vaccine efficacy in different population groups, and inform the design of future vaccines for enhanced protection against emerging pathogens."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy and Major Structural Birth Defects. (PubMed, Pediatrics) - "COVID-19 vaccination during early pregnancy is not associated with an increased prevalence of major structural birth defects in infants. These results support the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in early pregnancy."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

The immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of a bivalent mRNA or protein COVID-19 vaccine given as a fourth dose. (PubMed, J Infect) - P3 | "At day 28 post-vaccination, higher immunogenicity was observed following Moderna vaccination compared to Novavax vaccination when given as a fourth dose in healthy adults for Ancestral and Omicron subvariants, including JN.1. However, local and systemic reactogenicity was higher in the Moderna vaccine group compared with the Novavax vaccine group. These results may have important implications for ongoing booster strategies."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Effect of Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination on immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 vaccination. (PubMed, Clin Transl Immunology) - "Blood samples, from a subset of 275 SARS-CoV-2-naïve healthcare workers randomised to BCG vaccination (BCG group) or no BCG vaccination (Control group) in the BRACE trial, were collected before and 28 days after the primary course (two doses) of ChAdOx1-S (Oxford-AstraZeneca) or BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccination. BCG vaccination induced a broad and persistent reduction in ex vivo cytokine responses to SARS-CoV-2. Following COVID-19 vaccination, this effect was abrogated, and BCG vaccination did not influence adaptive immune responses to COVID-19 vaccine antigens."

Journal • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Mucosal vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 using recombinant influenza viruses delivering self-assembling nanoparticles. (PubMed, Vaccine) - "Recombinant influenza-based vaccines effectively deliver highly immunogenic self-assembling nanoparticles, generating antibodies and B cells in the respiratory mucosa. This strategy provides a tractable pathway to augment lung-localised responses against recurrent respiratory viral infections."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Influenza • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

The Platform trial In COVID-19 vaccine priming and BOOsting (PICOBOO) booster vaccination substudy protocol. (PubMed, Trials) - P4 | "PICOBOO is an adaptive platform trial evaluating different COVID-19 booster vaccination strategies to generate evidence to inform immunisation practice and policy. The modular and flexible protocol structure is intended to enable investigators to respond with agility to new research questions as they arise, such as immunogenicity targeting emergent virus variants, and the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of new vaccines as they become available for use."

Clinical protocol • Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Mapping the immunopeptidome of seven SARS-CoV-2 antigens across common HLA haplotypes. (PubMed, Nat Commun) - "Most COVID-19 vaccines elicit immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein...T cell reactivity tested against 56 of the detected peptides shows CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses against several peptides from the N, E, and Nsp9 proteins. Results from this study will aid the development of next-generation COVID vaccines targeting epitopes from across a number of SARS-CoV-2 proteins."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases • CD4 • CD8

Differential COVID-19 case ascertainment by age and vaccination status in Victoria, Australia: a serosurveillance and record linkage study. (PubMed, Commun Dis Intell (2018)) - "Case notification was highest among individuals older than 80 years and people who had received COVID-19 vaccine booster doses...Under-notification of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the Victorian population is not uniform across age and vaccination strata. Seroprevalence data that give insights into case notification behaviour provide additional context for the interpretation of existing COVID-19 surveillance information."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Bringing optimised COVID-19 vaccine schedules to immunocompromised populations (BOOST-IC): study protocol for an adaptive randomised controlled clinical trial. (PubMed, Trials) - P3 | "This study will enhance the understanding of COVID-19 vaccine responses in ICH, and enable the development of safe, and optimised vaccine schedules in people with HIV, SOT, or haematological malignancy."

Clinical • Journal • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia • Hematological Disorders • Hematological Malignancies • Human Immunodeficiency Virus • Infectious Disease • Leukemia • Lymphoma • Multiple Myeloma • Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Oncology • Respiratory Diseases • Solid Organ Transplantation • Transplantation

Homologous but not heterologous COVID-19 vaccine booster elicits IgG4+ B-cells and enhanced Omicron subvariant binding. (PubMed, NPJ Vaccines) - "Healthy adults who received primary BNT162b2 (mRNA) or ChAdOx1 (vector) vaccination were sampled 1-month and 6-months after their 2nd and 3rd dose (homologous or heterologous) vaccination. A 3rd mRNA dose generates similarly robust serological and Bmem responses in homologous and heterologous vaccination groups. The expansion of IgG4+ Bmem after mRNA priming might result from the unique vaccine formulation or dosing schedule affecting the Bmem response duration and antibody maturation."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Robust immunity conferred by combining COVID-19 vaccine platforms in older adults. (PubMed, Nat Aging) - No abstract available

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease

Response to COVID-19 vaccination imaged by PD-L1 PET scanning. (PubMed, EJNMMI Rep) - "Immune response to mRNA BNT162b2 vaccination may involve regulation by PD-L1 positive immune cells in local draining lymph nodes in immunocompetent patients."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Lung Cancer • Non Small Cell Lung Cancer • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Oncology • Solid Tumor • PD-L1

Single shot dendritic cell targeting SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate induces broad, durable and protective systemic and mucosal immune responses in mice. (PubMed, Mol Ther) - "Current COVID-19 vaccines face limitations including waning immunity, immune escape by SARS-CoV-2 variants, limited cellular response, and poor mucosal immunity...2 log10 reduction in lung viral loads compared to non-immunized controls. Therefore, Clec9A-RBD immunization has the potential to trigger robust and sustained, systemic and mucosal protective immunity against rapidly evolving SARS-CoV2 variants."

Journal • Preclinical • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases • CD8

Adaptive immune responses to two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series in healthy Canadian adults ≥ 50 years: a prospective, observational cohort study. (PubMed, Sci Rep) - "Eighty-four adults were vaccinated with either: mRNA/mRNA (mRNA-1273 and/or BNT162b2); ChAdOx1-S/mRNA; or ChAdOx1-S/ChAdOx1-S. Antibody avidity (total relative avidity index) did not change between one-month and four-months post-second dose and did not significantly differ between groups by four-months post-second dose. In determining COVID-19 correlates of protection, a measure that considers both antibody concentration and avidity should be considered."

Journal • Observational data • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • CD8

Cross-Reactivity Assessment of Vaccine-Derived SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Responses against BA.2.86 and JN.1. (PubMed, Viruses) - "This raises concern as many widely deployed COVID-19 vaccines are based on the spike protein of the ancestral Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2...We evaluate the effect of mutations specific to BA.2.86 and JN.1 on experimentally determined T cell epitopes derived from the spike protein of the ancestral Wuhan strain and the spike protein of the XBB.1.5 strain that has been recommended as a booster vaccine. Our data suggest that BA.2.86 and JN.1 affect numerous T cell epitopes in spike compared to previous variants; however, the widespread loss of T cell recognition against these variants is unlikely."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Estimating measures to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Australia to guide a 'National Plan' to reopening. (PubMed, Epidemics) - "The availability of COVID-19 vaccines promised a reduction in the severity of disease and relief from the strict public health and social measures (PHSMs) imposed in many countries to limit spread and burden of COVID-19...Maintaining low case numbers was most beneficial for health and the economy, and at higher coverage levels (≥80%) further easing of restrictions was deemed possible. These results directly informed easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Australia."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease • Respiratory Diseases

Evaluating a peer-to-peer health education program in Australian public housing communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. (PubMed, BMC Health Serv Res) - "Concierges' impact on residents may have contributed to high community uptake of COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and had benefits beyond the COVID-19 remit. We recommend the program be revised and continued to inform further preparedness planning and support service access generally. Program models such as this have potential to inform and reassure high-risk communities during a pandemic. In addition, such programs can help overcome vaccine hesitancy and promote protective health behaviours, regardless of whether a pandemic is currently occurring. Ensuring these programs remain responsive to the changing needs of end-users needs over time is imperative."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease