COVID-19 Immunity Task Force

The COVID-19 Immunity Task Force is a Canadian initiative intended to organize resources to study natural and vaccine-induced immunity to SARS-CoV-2.

It was launched in April 2020 by the Government of Canada.¹⁾ The group is jointly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).²⁾

Research

As of March 23, 2022, the CITF is supporting 112 COVID-19 studies across Canada.³⁾

COVERED study

COVERED is a COVID-19 vaccine registry for pregnant and breastfeeding women across Canada.⁴⁾

It is being run at the University of British Columbia in partnership with Canadian Vaccine Safety Network (CANVAS), the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Women's Health Research Institute.⁵⁾ The lead researcher is Deborah Money.

An additional “Immune-Substudy” was launched at the British Columbia Women's Hospital.⁶⁾

Ontario study

This second study links information collected from BORN Ontario, which collects data from every baby born in Ontario, with the province’s vaccination registry from the Ontario Ministry of Health (COVaxON). Deshayne Fell is the lead researcher.

Affiliations

The secretariat for the task force is housed at the McGill University School of Population and Global Health.⁷⁾

Team

Name	Position	Affiliation	Notes
David Naylor	Co-chair	University of Toronto	-
Catherine Hankins	Co-chair	McGill University	-
Timothy Evans	Executive Director	McGill University	-
Heather Hannah	Executive Committee	Northwest Territories	-
Mona Nemer	Executive Committee; Government of Canada representative	Government of Canada	Chief Science Advisor of Canada
Howard Njoo	Executive Committee	Public Health Agency of Canada	Deputy Chief Public Health Officer and Interim Vice-President, Infectious Disease Programs Branch
Gina Ogilvie	Executive Committee, Leadership Team	University of British Columbia, BC Centre for Disease Control, Women's Health Research Institute	-
Jutta Preiksaitis	Executive Committee, Leadership Group	University of Alberta	-
Gail Tomblin Murphy	Executive Committee, Leadership Group	Nova Scotia Health Authority	-
Paul van Caeseele	Executive Committee, Leadership Group	Cadham Provincial Laboratory, Manitoba Health, University of Manitoba	-
Theresa Tam	Government of Canada representative	Public Health Agency of Canada	-
Stephen Lucas	Government of Canada representative	Health Canada	-
Vivek Goel	Leadership Group	University of Waterloo	-
Philippe Gros	Leadership Group	McGill University	-
Scott Halperin	Leadership Group	Dalhousie University, Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN)	-
Charu Kaushic	Leadership Group	Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), McMaster University	-
James D. Kellner	Leadership Group	University of Calgary, Alberta Health Services	-
Susan Kirkland	Leadership Group	Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority	-
Gary Kobinger	Leadership Group	Laval University	-
Mel Krajden	Leadership Group	University of British Columbia (UBC), BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC)	-
Christie Lutsiak	Leadership Group	Alberta Health	-
Richard Massé	Leadership Group	Government of Quebec	-
Allison McGeer	Leadership Group	University of Toronto	-
Deborah Money	Leadership Group	University of British Columbia, Women's Health Research Institute	-
Shelly Bolotin	Provincial & Territorial representative	Public Health Ontario (PHO)	-
Marguerite Cameron	Provincial & Territorial representative	PEI Health and Wellness	-
Catherine Elliot	Provincial & Territorial representative	Government of Yukon	-
Richard Garceau	Provincial & Territorial representative	Dr. Georges L Dumont University Hospital Centre	-
Jessica Minion	Provincial & Territorial representative	Saskatchewan Health Authority	-
Michael Patterson	Provincial & Territorial representative	Government of Nunavut	-
Nathan Stall	-	Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, CanCOVID, Sinai Health System, Ontario Liberal Party	Received funding from the Task Force for geriatric research.⁸⁾

¹⁾ , ⁷⁾

COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. (2021, October 21). McGill University School of Population and Global Health. https://archive.ph/o6M3j

²⁾

Nelson, M. (2020, September 10). Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force partners with CIHR to support 22 studies investigating COVID-19. COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/canadas-covid-19-immunity-task-force-partners-with-cihr-to-support-22-studies-investigating-covid-19-2/

³⁾

Evans, T. (2022, March 23). The importance of pediatric vaccination. COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. https://web.archive.org/web/20220403062829/https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CITF_CanCOVID_6_Pediatric-vaccination_2022_EN_FINAL-2.pdf

⁴⁾

Burns, R., Logothetis, P., & Rolfsen, E. (2021, May 19). Canadian researchers studying effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy. COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. https://archive.ph/21EZi

⁵⁾

Home | Canadian COVID-19 Vaccine Registry for Pregnant and Lactating Individuals. University of British Columbia. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://archive.ph/REwD1

⁶⁾

Immune Sub-Study | Canadian COVID-19 Vaccine Registry for Pregnant and Lactating Individuals. University of British Columbia. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://covered.med.ubc.ca/immune-sub-study/

⁸⁾

Stall, N. M. (2021, January 29). Declaration of Interest. Wayback Machine; Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. https://web.archive.org/web/20210425034556/https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Declaration-of-Interest_Science-Table_Nathan-Stall-2.pdf

Menu

Table of Contents