Dispatch from Israel: COVID-19 Vaccines and the Delta Variant: What we know so far
Speaker: Ben Reis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children's Hospital
The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has rapidly emerged as the dominant strain spreading in many countries worldwide. Dr. Ben Reis led a discussion reviewing the latest findings on the Delta variant, with a focus on the effectiveness of approved COVID-19 vaccines against this emerging viral strain. Dr. Reis reviewed the evidence available from scientific publications, preliminary studies and public health reports, in the context of the inherent challenges involved in real-world vaccination effectiveness studies. He discussed the lessons learned from the nation-wide mass-vaccination experience in Israel and other highly vaccinated countries such as the UK, and provided an update on how these countries are responding dynamically to the threats posed by this emerging variant.
Dr. Ben Reis is Director of the Predictive Medicine Group in the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on understanding the essential patterns of human disease, and on developing novel approaches for predicting disease. He has designed predictive health monitoring systems for regional and national settings, and has advised governments worldwide on establishing biodefense and biosurveillance infrastructures to respond to a wide range of phenomena - from global pandemics to the Olympic Games. Together with collaborators in Israel, he co-authored the first large study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wallstreet Journal, Time Magazine, and Fortune. He has been recognized by the White House for his work on promoting public health through technology, and by the US State Department, USAID and NASA for his work in global health innovation.
