Vaccines & Infectious Diseases

“To combat infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and influenza, we are comprehensively evaluating the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in current use, conducting clinical trials of promising new vaccines, and studying the patterns of how these illnesses spread.”

Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH
Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Senior Investigator

Research overview

Vaccines save lives by protecting people against infectious diseases — polio, influenza, and pneumonia to name a few. Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) is working to protect communities through research to continually improve the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for infectious diseases of public health importance.

Central to this work is testing new vaccines against emerging diseases — such as COVID-19. In March 2020, KPWHRI gave the world’s first-ever injection of an investigational vaccine for COVID-19 in a phase 1 clinical trial led by Senior Investigator Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH. We continue to be at the forefront of efforts to understand and combat COVID-19. To learn more, see COVID-19 research at KPWHRI.

Successes over 3 decades of KPWHRI vaccine research include:

A large study of flu vaccination in seniors that found that the vaccine might not protect them from pneumonia as well as hoped
A “real-time” evaluation of the safety of the shingles vaccine in older adults across the Vaccine Safety Datalink network
Clinical trials of investigational flu vaccines, including ones against pandemic flu and bird flu, in adults
Studies to better understand and address vaccine hesitancy among families who delay or refuse to vaccinate their children because of safety fears, leading to outbreaks of potentially deadly illnesses such as whooping cough and measles
The biggest retrospective study of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine effectiveness in adults, and the largest clinical trial on the safety of this vaccine
The pivotal clinical trials of 7-valent, 13-valent, and 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in older adults

Our current research projects on vaccines and infectious diseases include:

Clinical trials conducted by the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and part of the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC). Led by Dr. Lisa Jackson, the unit launched the world’s first trial of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine — the now-approved NIH-Moderna vaccine — and continues to test the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. To learn more, see COVID-19 research at KPWHRI.
Studies of how infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza spread through communities
Research to explore what types of communication and community engagement strategies are most effective at improving COVID-19 vaccine uptake among workers in long-term care facilities. Clarissa Hsu, PhD, is leading this research, which is being funded by a $4.75 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines by the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network, led by Karen J. Wernli, PhD, KPWHRI senior investigator, and funded by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Studies of immunization safety through the Vaccine Safety Datalink project, supported by the CDC and connecting information in large databases maintained by 8 American health plans including Kaiser Permanente Washington
Methodological research, led by Jennifer C Nelson, PhD, and Andrea J. Cook, PhD, to improve the statistical design and analysis approaches used to address vaccine safety questions in electronic health record data settings

Recent publications on Vaccines & Infectious Disease

El Sahly HM, Baden LR, Essink B, Doblecki-Lewis S, Martin JM, Anderson EJ, Campbell TB, Clark J, Jackson LA, Fichtenbaum CJ, Zervos M, Rankin B, Eder F, Feldman G, Kennelly C, Han-Conrad L, Levin M, Neuzil KM, Corey L, Gilbert P, Janes H, Follmann D, Marovich M, Polakowski L, Mascola JR, Ledgerwood JE, Graham BS, August A, Clouting H, Deng W, Han S, Leav B, Manzo D, Pajon R, Schödel F, Tomassini JE, Zhou H, Miller J, COVE Study Group Efficacy of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine at Completion of Blinded Phase 2021 Nov 4;385(19):1774-1785. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2113017. Epub 2021-09-22. PubMed

Atmar RL, Lyke KE, Deming ME, Jackson LA, Branche AR, El Sahly HM, Rostad CA, Martin JM, Johnston C, Rupp RE, Mulligan MJ, Brady RC, Frenck RW, Bäcker M, Kottkamp AC, Babu TM, Rajakumar K, Edupuganti S, Dobryzynski D, Posavad CM, Archer JI, Crandon S, Nayak SU, Szydlo D, Zemanek J, Islas CPD, Brown ER, Suthar MS, McElrath MJ, McDermott AB, O'Connell SE, Montefiori DC, Eaton A, Neuzil KM, Stephens DS, Roberts PC, Beigel JH, DMID 21-0012 Study Group Heterologous SARS-CoV-2 Booster Vaccinations - Preliminary Report 2021 Oct 15 doi: 10.1101/2021.10.10.21264827. Epub 2021-10-15. PubMed

Klein NP, Lewis N, Goddard K, Fireman B, Zerbo O, Hanson KE, Donahue JG, Kharbanda EO, Naleway A, Nelson JC, Xu S, Yih WK, Glanz JM, Williams JTB, Hambidge SJ, Lewin BJ, Shimabukuro TT, DeStefano F, Weintraub ES Surveillance for Adverse Events After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination 2021 Oct 12;326(14):1390-1399. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.15072. Epub 2021-09-03. PubMed

Leyenaar JK, McDaniel CE, Arthur KC, Stevens CA, St Ivany AR. Healthcare quality for acute illness during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multisite qualitative analysis. Pediatr Qual Saf. 2021 Sep 24;6(5):e476. doi: 10.1097/pq9.0000000000000476. eCollection 2021 Sep-Oct. PubMed

Pegu A, O'Connell SE, Schmidt SD, O'Dell S, Talana CA, Lai L, Albert J, Anderson E, Bennett H, Corbett KS, Flach B, Jackson L, Leav B, Ledgerwood JE, Luke CJ, Makowski M, Nason MC, Roberts PC, Roederer M, Rebolledo PA, Rostad CA, Rouphael NG, Shi W, Wang L, Widge AT, Yang ES, mRNA-1273 Study Group§, Beigel JH, Graham BS, Mascola JR, Suthar MS, McDermott AB, Doria-Rose NA, Arega J, Beigel JH, Buchanan W, Elsafy M, Hoang B, Lampley R, Kolhekar A, Koo H, Luke C, Makhene M, Nayak S, Pikaart-Tautges R, Roberts PC, Russell J, Sindall E, Albert J, Kunwar P, Makowski M, Anderson EJ, Bechnak A, Bower M, Camacho-Gonzalez AF, Collins M, Drobeniuc A, Edara VV, Edupuganti S, Floyd K, Gibson T, Ackerley CMG, Johnson B, Kamidani S, Kao C, Kelley C, Lai L, Macenczak H, McCullough MP, Peters E, Phadke VK, Rebolledo PA, Rostad CA, Rouphael N, Scherer E, Sherman A, Stephens K, Suthar MS, Teherani M, Traenkner J, Winston J, Yildirim I, Barr L, Benoit J, Carste B, Choe J, Dunstan M, Erolin R, Ffitch J, Fields C, Jackson LA, Kiniry E, Lasicka S, Lee S, Nguyen M, Pimienta S, Suyehira J, Witte M, Bennett H, Altaras NE, Carfi A, Hurley M, Leav B, Pajon R, Sun W, Zaks T, Coler RN, Larsen SE, Neuzil KM, Lindesmith LC, Martinez DR, Munt J, Mallory M, Edwards C, Baric RS, Berkowitz NM, Boritz EA, Carlton K, Corbett KS, Costner P, Creanga A, Doria-Rose NA, Douek DC, Flach B, Gaudinski M, Gordon I, Graham BS, Holman L, Ledgerwood JE, Leung K, Lin BC, Louder MK, Mascola JR, McDermott AB, Morabito KM, Novik L, O'Connell S, O'Dell S, Padilla M, Pegu A, Schmidt SD, Shi W, Swanson PA, Talana CA, Wang L, Widge AT, Yang ES, Zhang Y, Chappell JD, Denison MR, Hughes T, Lu X, Pruijssers AJ, Stevens LJ, Posavad CM, Gale M, Menachery V, Shi PY Durability of mRNA-1273 vaccine-induced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants 2021 Sep 17;373(6561):1372-1377. doi: 10.1126/science.abj4176. Epub 2021-08-12. PubMed