As the world continues to vaccinate against COVID-19, researchers at BC Children’s Hospital are looking for volunteers to participate in a major new study into the long-term effects of vaccinations.
The Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network, or CANVAS, is looking for 400,000 people — both vaccinated and unvaccinated — to track any potential adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.
Unvaccinated participants will be part of a control group that will help researchers put any reported health events into proper context.
“Tracking vaccine safety is a critically important task which CANVAS conducts for many vaccines,” said Dr. Julie Bettinger, lead investigator for the CANVAS network.
“We are massively scaling up this work to find out whether and how often any adverse reactions occur after a COVID-19 vaccination.”
Vaccinated study participants will be asked to complete online surveys eight days after they receive their first dose, another eight days after their second dose if they receive one, and then a final survey six months after that.
Unvaccinated participants will be asked to fill out up to three surveys.
Those interested in enrolling in the study can visit the CANVAS website.