VISION成功背后的趣赢平台团队

VISION疫苗有效性网络, 由美国疾病控制与预防中心(CDC)于2020年发起, 刺激了疫苗评估的重大转变, guiding COVID-19 vaccine policy decisions and delivering critical information about this disease to Americans quickly. 趣赢平台对这个由9个美国集成的协作“虚拟网络”的协调.S. 卫生系统能够及时提供, robust data on vaccine effectiveness for different populations in different real-world conditions, 并大大扩展了对COVID-19结果和并发症的了解. 这项研究对于帮助国家对抗这种致命的病原体至关重要.

强大的团队精神

Integral to the success of this expansive public health effort was 趣赢平台’s team of skilled professionals. 其中最关键的是 萨拉·鲍尔，理学博士，硕士，公共卫生硕士, 副总统 and 首席科学/流行病学顾问, who managed the project, and 伊丽莎白一个. K. 罗利,认为他是首席统计助理，担任联合分析主管.

作为项目总监, 鲍尔管理多重职责, 包括与9个合作网站的合作, ensuring the seamless integration of population-based surveillance and electronic health records (EHRs), 并监督疾控中心要求的快速数据分析和两周报告. 当疾病控制中心转移重点时, 鲍尔确保她的团队能够迅速适应, 当员工需要换挡的时候, 她让他们专注于其他优先事项.

“我可以很灵活,”她说。, “因为我们有一个非常能干的, collaborative team that was large enough to assume the responsibilities of those needing time off or to attend to other tasks.”

鲍尔还负责管理预算, 与疾控中心保持频繁联系, 提供与科学责任相关的高层次投入, 并监督韦斯特研究结果的发表. 她对人们对她在VISION所扮演角色的赞美不屑一顾, pointing to the collaborative CDC and health systems partnerships and her team’s unwavering commitment to the research.

“We all saw how valuable and rewarding this work was—that it was contributing to positive outcomes for the public,”她说。. “我们看到我们的发现迅速发表, 因此，为了更大的利益，人们很容易忽视所有的挑战.”

Rowley wrote the initial code to analyze the data and oversaw the translation of scientific questions impacting programming. She developed a statistical analysis pipeline to quickly analyze biweekly data deliveries from health systems and produce reports for decisionmakers essential to determining national COVID-19 vaccine policy. She also performed simulation studies into various analytic techniques to determine which ones would guarantee that the data could translate into a clear understanding of vaccine effectiveness.

有见地、有价值的发现

The VISION Network published over 25 papers, both in peer-reviewed journals and in CDC’s 发病率和死亡率周报(MMWR). These publications provided scientists with the latest information about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines and gave policymakers the insights and actionable data they needed to make informed decisions. Data that was relayed in close to real time over the course of the project included:

• 疫苗对初始亚型和后期亚型的有效性
• 疫苗在孕妇中的有效性, 免疫功能不全的人, 以及5-17岁的儿童和青少年
• 单价疫苗的效力正在减弱
• COVID-19疫苗对降低疾病严重程度的影响
• 二价增强剂的有效性

Other publications produced by the VISION team reported on vaccine coverage and effectiveness by social vulnerability; protection from mRNA vaccination and prior infection against COVID-associated medical encounters; the number of people needed to vaccinate to prevent COVID-associated medical encounters; and the effectiveness of the 2021-22 influenza vaccine.

“我们工作的影响是惊人的,罗利说, noting that “almost immediately” 趣赢平台’s findings were presented to CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 哪个组织提出了针对不同人群使用疫苗的建议. “But,她补充道, 随着疫情的发展和疾病预防控制中心的要求发生变化, 我们需要每两周更新一次分析. This involved analysis of an enormous dataset of millions of COVID tests and vaccine records. It also meant continuously reviewing the data or changing the way we reported them to CDC to ensure absolute clarity. 我们的适应能力, 强大的团队凝聚力, and deep commitment to the work enabled us to deftly manage the project’s multiple moving parts.”

新的研究机会

2023年7月，韦斯特获得了VISION 2.0的合同, 它不仅关注COVID-19, 而且对流感和呼吸道合胞病毒(RSV)疫苗的有效性也有影响. The pace is slower than during the pandemic, with data analyzed and reported monthly. A report on the interim effectiveness estimates of the season’s COVID-19 and flu vaccines can be found in the February 2024 MMWR.

VISION的下一个目标是什么? Ball says the platform will be used to survey Lyme disease and vaccines to prevent it. “We are always looking for ways to make VISION’s capabilities and processes work in new and needed areas of investigation.”

Both Ball and Rowley applaud CDC’s leadership and engagement of 趣赢平台 to conduct research that has saved so many lives and created the infrastructure to understand and defeat other pathogens that might emerge.