CoVaRR-Net

CoVaRR-Net, or Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network, is a network of interdisciplinary researchers from institutions across the country created to assist in the Government of Canada’s overall strategy to address the potential threat of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Our mandate is to coordinate, facilitate, support and accelerate rapid response research throughout Canada.

We are in the process of creating mechanisms, such as the CoVaRR-Net Biobank, a data sharing platform, a Wastewater Surveillance Group, and the Canadian Consortium of Academic Biosafety Level 3 Laboratories, and are aiming to elaborate material sharing agreements. All these are in an effort to simplify the sharing of physical research resources, data and knowledge, for this pandemic and the next, making it easier and faster for researchers to get what they need to study variants in Canada.

The goal: rapidly answer critical and immediate questions regarding variants, such as their increased transmissibility, likelihood to cause severe cases of COVID-19, and resistance to vaccines. The findings from the experts in our network and their teams will provide decision makers in Canada, but also abroad, with guidance regarding drug therapy, vaccine effectiveness, and other public health strategies.¹⁾

CoVaRR-Net brings together some of Canada’s most eminent researchers and experts in a variety of disciplines linked to emerging variants. By connecting this country’s best variants of concern-related research labs, this network ensures a rapid and coordinated response to this complicated facet of the pandemic.

Our team is structured by theme or “Pillars” which study and analyze a different biological aspect of variants. Pillar Leads are responsible for overseeing all Pillar activities and are supported by Deputies, who are experts in varied relevant disciplines, as well as research coordinators and research associates.

We also have a team organizing shared resources and a team providing outreach, policy, and public health communication.

Our Executive Committee is comprised of the Executive Director, the Directors of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity, the Communications Director, and the nine Pillar Leads.²⁾

See our recent publication on wastewater detection here. Detection of prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variant lineages in wastewater and clinical sequences from cities in Québec, Canada³⁾

Anthony Bayega PhD, Sarah Reiling PhD, Ju-Ling “Linda” Liu, PhD

Collaborators

Robert Delatolla PhD - University of Ottawa, Caroline Quach PhD - University of Montreal, Terrance P. Snutch PhD- University of British Columbia, Jeff Wrana PhD - University of Toronto

Wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising tool to monitor pathogens in a population, particularly when clinical diagnostic capacities become overwhelmed. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), several jurisdictions have tracked viral concentrations in wastewater to inform public health authorities. While some studies have also sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes from wastewater, there have been relatively few direct comparisons between viral genetic diversity in wastewater and matched clinical samples from the same region and time period.

Here we report sequencing and inference of SARS-CoV-2 mutations and variant lineages (including variants of concern) in 936 wastewater samples and thousands of matched clinical sequences collected between March 2020 and July 2021 in the cities of Montreal, Quebec City, and Laval, representing almost half the population of the Canadian province of Quebec. We benchmarked our sequencing and variant-calling methods on known viral genome sequences to establish thresholds for inferring variants in wastewater with confidence. ⁴⁾

Read CoVaRR-Net’s full Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR) document on Vaccine Administration for Children.⁵⁾

(note zero information about necessity, risks, safety or efficacy of COVID jabs for kids just delivery)

Vaccine administration consists of a series of activities prior to and on the day of vaccine delivery, including the booking of vaccination appointments, the injection of the vaccines, and the keeping of vaccination records (5,6). As of November 19, 2021, the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty COVID vaccine has been approved by Health Canada for children ages 5 through 11. Previously, Health Canada had approved both the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty COVID vaccine and Moderna Spikevax COVID vaccine for youth 12 years of age and older. High uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine across the population is key to reducing hospitalizations and death during the pandemic (7). The following SBAR examines how to reduce barriers for school-age children accessing the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as approaches for vaccine allocation, distribution, booking, and tracking. The SBAR recommends where vaccination clinics could be held, at what hours, and what the booking process should be, based on a review of best practices from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on reducing barriers and vaccination equity.⁶⁾

Full list of projects⁷⁾