Two new publications authored by members of the RID Program Team have been published in Microbiology Spectrum and the British Columbia Medical Journal!
The first of these publications is entitled “Serological evaluation of coronavirus IgA and IgG antibodies in a repeated cross-sectional cohort of unvaccinated and vaccinated pregnant individuals over three months following SARS-CoV-2 infection” and was published in Microbiology Spectrum on December 5th, 2025. This publication was authored by a team which included Dr. Deborah Money, Dr. Elisabeth McClymont, Dr. Chelsea Elwood, Lucia Forward, as well as UBC Pathology & Laboratory Medicine PhD candidate Guadalein Tanunliong, among others. This publication describes results from the RID Program’s COVID-19 Antenatal Serostudies Project, which utilized serum collected as part of routine antenatal screening in pregnant individuals in BC from March 2020 to May 2022 to assess antibody responses to COVID-19 in this population. This specific study looked at the COVID-19 IgA and IgG-based immune responses in unvaccinated and vaccinated pregnant women and people for the 3 months following a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Overall, vaccinated individuals exhibited lower anti-N IgA and IgG seropositivity rates during this period than unvaccinated individuals, which highlights the difficulty of using these metrics to identify new COVID-19 infections in individuals who are vaccinated. For more information on the findings, click here to access the publication!
The second publication is entitled “RSV immunization in pregnancy and infancy” and was authored by RID Program investigator Dr. Jeffrey Wong and collaborator Dr. Pascal Lavoie. This article was a review of the background and options available for RSV immunization to prevent severe infant infection in BC, as well as details on efficacy, eligibility, side effects, safety and other key factors for the two immunization options (RSVpreF and Nirsevimab). This publication, which was released by the British Columbia Medical Journal in December 2025, will help clinicians and pregnant patients to make informed decisions regarding RSV immunization in pregnancy/infancy. For more information, click here to access the publication!