BRACE COVID-19-Specific vaccine sub-study (BCOS)
- Project status: Active
Research area: Infection, Immunity and Global Health > Infectious Diseases > BRACE trial
BRACE COVID-19-Specific vaccine sub-study (BCOS)
With philanthropic support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this is a sub-study to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s trial of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to reduce the impact of COVID-19. By recruiting existing BRACE trial participants for the sub-study, researchers are seeking answers to these key questions:
- BCOS Australia and Brazil - Does BCG vaccination, by boosting the immune system, improve the response to Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CoronaVac?
- BCOS Brazil - Is it possible to predict who remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 variants despite previous COVID-19 disease or COVID-19-specific vaccination?
With philanthropic support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this is a sub-study to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s trial of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to reduce the impact of COVID-19. By recruiting existing BRACE...
With philanthropic support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this is a sub-study to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s trial of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to reduce the impact of COVID-19. By recruiting existing BRACE trial participants for the sub-study, researchers are seeking answers to these key questions:
- BCOS Australia and Brazil - Does BCG vaccination, by boosting the immune system, improve the response to Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CoronaVac?
- BCOS Brazil - Is it possible to predict who remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 variants despite previous COVID-19 disease or COVID-19-specific vaccination?
About Australian sub-study participants
- Are participants in the main BRACE trial
- Are healthcare workers at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Epworth HealthCare, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide or the Royal Adelaide Hospital
- Had not had their COVID-19-specific vaccine at the time of enrolment
- Have not previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 at the time of enrolment.
How it worked
BCOS participants attended one, two, or three vaccine sub-study clinic visits and provided a blood sample each time. The number of visits depended on the type of COVID-19-specific vaccine received. Where possible, we combined the visits with regular BRACE trial 3-monthly clinic visits.
Participants completed additional questionnaires a week after each vaccine sub-study clinic visit to tell us which COVID-19-specific vaccine they received and any reactions experienced. Participation in the sub-study ended 28 days after receiving the second dose of a COVID-19-specific vaccine.
Learn more about BCOS
The global race to understand Covid-19 variants. The University of Melbourne
Is it possible to predict who’s susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 variants – despite previous COVID-19 infection or vaccination?
ABC NewsRadio interview
Dr Nicole Messina, BRACE Biosample and Laboratory Lead speaks on ABC NewsRadio about the BRACE COVID-19-Specific vaccine sub-study.
