COVID-19 immunity study to enroll college students to test vaccine effectiveness

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 11 2021

A University of Arizona Health Sciences study that is examining COVID-19 immunity and re-infection among frontline workers is expanding to include some Arizona college students while broadening its research focus to include COVID-19 vaccination effectiveness.

"This new vaccine effectiveness aspect of the study will become even more important as COVID-19 variants with increased transmissibility emerge and expand globally," said Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH, MS, principal investigator of the Arizona Healthcare, Emergency Response, and Other Essential Workers Surveillance study, or AZ HEROES, associate dean for research and a professor at the UArizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and a member of the BIO5 Institute.

Serologic and cellular immune response testing will be performed on pre-and post-vaccination blood samples. Different vaccine exposures, including different vaccine types and adherence to recommended vaccine doses and timing, will be examined. Researchers will investigate whether vaccine efficacy is modified by socio-demographic characteristics, occupation, or health status.

They also will examine:

• whether vaccines modify illness severity, duration and infectiousness, or viral shedding, among essential workers who come into contact with the virus after they have been vaccinated;
• the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness; and,
• knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to new COVID-19 vaccines among essential workers, and the impact of those factors on subsequent vaccination behaviors, including vaccine refusal, hesitancy, or incomplete adherence to vaccination recommendations.

College students included

College students can be at higher risk of COVID-19 exposure due to living situations that often include roommates, as well as social activities and work, volunteer or internship obligations. The study hopes to enroll 500-1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from Arizona universities and colleges by June 2021.

The current AZ HEROES study eligibility criteria for college students are as follows:

• Previously COVID-19 positive via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), rapid antigen or antibody test
• Enrolled as a student at least part-time (at least six units)
• Working at least 10 hours per week
• Have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine

The AZ HEROES team invites all eligible college students to sign up for the study on the AZ HEROES website: https://azheroes.arizona.edu/

AZ HEROES was started last year by researchers in the Zuckerman College of Public Health and the UArizona College of Medicine - Tucson thanks to a $7.7 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study's initial goals were to evaluate the incidence of asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 re-infection among the state's frontline workers (health care personnel, first responders and other essential workers) and to establish patterns of COVID-19 immunity over time in individuals who previously tested positive for COVID-19.