Good afternoon, honourable members, and thank you for the opportunity to address this standing committee.
The COVID-19 Immunity Task Force was established by the Government of Canada in April 2020 with a two-year mandate. We work virtually and have a leadership group that's co-chaired by Dr. Catherine Hankins and Dr. David Naylor. The leadership group is a set of volunteer experts from across the country who work closely with governments, public health agencies, health organizations, research teams, other task forces, communities and stakeholders.
The task force is focused on understanding the nature of immunity arising from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and establishing the prevalence of that infection in the general population and in specific communities with priority populations. In January 2021 the task force was asked to take a major role in supporting vaccine surveillance, to monitor both effectiveness and safety.
There are approximately five areas of focus for the task force, and we've supported to date about 80 to 85 studies. The primary focus is to undertake zero-prevalence studies. Those test for the presence of antibodies arising in individuals from either previous infection or vaccination with a COVID vaccine. These studies shed light on the level of immunity in the general population and in priority populations such as long-term care residents. They were initiated in May 2020, shortly after we were established, and are ongoing as we navigate the third wave.
Initial studies from the blood banks across Canada revealed that at the tail of the first wave in May and June 2020, the level of population immunity in Canada was extremely low, at less than 1%. While this was a strong indicator of the success of public efforts to limit the spread of infection, these low levels of immunity made it abundantly clear that across the country we remained extremely vulnerable to a second wave.
Updated results in January 2021, in the midst of the second wave, suggest that levels of immunity are higher in all regions beyond the Atlantic provinces, yet remain extremely low. Of particular concern in the latest results is the growth in inequalities in infection among people living in poor neighbourhoods and among racialized groups. In neighbourhoods with the greatest material deprivation, risk of infection is five times greater than in the least materially deprived neighbourhoods, and that risk of infection is growing nearly three times as fast in neighbourhoods of greatest material deprivation. Among racialized groups, infection risk is more than three times greater compared with the white population and is growing at about twice the speed.
The abundantly clear messages that are emerging from our CR prevalence data are that, one, we're a long way from herd immunity; two, vaccines are the only route to herd immunity; three, vaccine rollout must be directed as a priority to materially deprived neighbourhoods and racialized communities; and four, adherence to recommended public health behaviours remains critical until vaccine coverage reaches thresholds for herd immunity.
The task force is also working to advance our understanding of immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and some of the results we have to date give us an indication, for example, that immunity following infection remains strong and protective for at least eight months, and also that older populations living in long-term care may have a less robust immune response following a first dose vaccine. As we follow cohorts of infected persons and now vaccinated persons, we're going to gain more insights into how long immunity from infection and/or vaccination lasts in different age and sex groups, and when booster doses of vaccines may be needed.
The task force is also supporting immune testing work across Canada to validate and improve access to immune tests. We've validated a dried blood spot specimen, which is a made-in-Canada antibody test that helps distinguish vaccine-induced immunity from postinfection immunity. This is permitting home-based testing, and it is being deployed in studies across the country to gather information about how population immunity is evolving as vaccines are rolled out.
In terms of vaccine surveillance, we're working with a consortium of Canadian organizations: the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Immunization Research Network and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Together, through something called the vaccine surveillance reference group, we've identified studies that monitor the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines across Canada. Some of the topics we're monitoring include the effectiveness of alternative dosing schedules, the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in children, the safety and effectiveness of people with chronic illness, and a trial that's looking at mix-and-match vaccines. For example, if you get a Moderna vaccine as your first dose, how effective will it be if you get a Pfizer vaccine as your second dose?
Finally, we're also modelling herd immunity. With the rollout of vaccines, the task force is looking at the trajectories to herd immunity across Canada as a whole and in each of the provinces and territories, drawing on national and international sources of data.
Thank you very much.