Brown-based IMPACT Collaboratory expands massive effort to track COVID-19 vaccine effects
Brown University
The
tracking system, established by
the same team of researchers in February, was already the first big data effort
to combine vaccination and pharmacy records with Medicare claims. Adding data
from 13.2 million Walgreens customers to the information from more than 13
million CVS customers will effectively double the size of the securely
monitored data pool.
The
larger the population, the better, said project leader Vince Mor, a professor
of health services, policy and practice at Brown’s School of
Public Health.
“Since society cannot wait to vaccinate this population with an effective vaccine, we must establish an active post-vaccination surveillance system of a large population to report vaccine safety,” Mor said.
“Monitoring rare adverse events
requires very large populations. This project is allowing us to determine the
immediate and long-term effects of vaccination on tens of millions of elderly
people — nearly half the population of Medicare beneficiaries.”
Research
shows that the members of this group, who are age 65 and older, are more likely
to have a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other disorders than
younger populations, and are at greatest risk for severe illness from novel
coronavirus. Mor said those already suffering from neurodegenerative diseases
appear also to be at greater risk of serious neurological adverse reactions
from COVID-19 vaccines.
Walgreens and CVS, the nation’s two largest pharmacy chains, have been vaccinating customers at stores across the country since February and in long-term care facilities since December.
The existing research project matches pharmacy customer records with Medicare claims to create a database, updated weekly, that characterizes who is vaccinated, monitors adverse reactions to vaccination and examines the rate of “breakthrough” infection with COVID.
Merging the data
is enabling researchers to explore associations between vaccination rates and
factors like race and ethnicity, diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease and health
care system variables such as where beneficiaries receive care.
The
new two-year project in partnership with Walgreens is the eighth grant
supplement to a $53.4 million grant awarded to Brown and Hebrew SeniorLife
in 2019 — one that is funding a project called the IMPACT Collaboratory, a
nationwide effort to improve health care and quality of life for people living
with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as their caregivers.
The
project builds on the mission of the Center for
Long-Term Care Quality and Innovation, which is based at
Brown’s School of Public Health and will lead administration of the grant.
The
work is supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes
of Health under Award No. 3U54AG063546-02S8.