How European Research Projects Can Support Vaccination Strategies: The Case of the ORCHESTRA Project for SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

ORCHESTRA (“Connecting European Cohorts to Increase Common and Effective Response To SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic”) is an EU-funded project which aims to help rapidly advance the knowledge related to the prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the management of COVID-19 and its long-term sequelae. Here, we describe the early results of this project, focusing on the strengths of multiple, international, historical and prospective cohort studies and highlighting those results which are of potential relevance for vaccination strategies, such as the necessity of a vaccine booster dose after a primary vaccination course in hematologic cancer patients and in solid organ transplant recipients to elicit a higher antibody titer, and the protective effect of vaccination on severe COVID-19 clinical manifestation and on the emergence of post-COVID-19 conditions. Valuable data regarding epidemiological variations, risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its sequelae, and vaccination efficacy in different subpopulations can support further defining public health vaccination policies.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• cohort study
• public health
• vaccination
• data harmonization
• fragile population