COVID-19 Vaccination Study

Children’s Healthcare Canada and ScienceUpFirst, with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, have declared February 23, 2023, to be National Kids and Vaccines Day 2023. As such, we wanted to bring you an important update from our research partners, the Yeung Lab regarding SUCCEED Kids – their study looking at Covid-19 vaccination in children with autoimmune disease.

Here are two important COVID vaccination updates for pediatric rheumatology families:

• Antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination in children with autoimmune diseases was lowest in individuals treated with biologics, with third and fourth vaccine doses necessary to yield robust and durable antibody responses.
• Children treated with biologics, particularly anti-TNF agents and rituximab, have lower responses to COVID-19 vaccination.

You can still enroll in the SUCCEED KIDS study!

A simple blood sample taken at home, if done by enough families, can be transformed into powerful information about the health and safety of kids with rheumatic disease. Email yeunglab.clinicteam@sickkids.ca to sign up for this important study today or find more information here.

Learn more about #KidsVaccineDay here. Activities include a bilingual national town hall during which experts will respond to questions from Canadians.