Abstract: COVID-19 vaccines were developed at an amazing pace which required fast decisions about statistical approaches to design and analysis. While amazingly high efficacy has been demonstrated for multiple vaccine platforms, new questions continue to emerge. In this talk we provide a brief background on the US government supported COVID-19 vaccine trials followed by a summary of some past and emerging statistical issues. Topics include how to assess the durability of vaccine efficacy after the placebo group is vaccinated, the effect of vaccination on transmission and the latest wild card of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2.About speaker: Dr. Dean Follmann graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a PhD in statistics in 1985. Since 2002 he has served as Chief of the Biostatistics Research Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed research articles and received numerous awards, including the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Best Paper in Biometrics 2009, and is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He serves on committees and advisory boards for the US Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, philanthropic organizations, and academic departments. Current research interests focus on statistical methods related to vaccinology.

 

Webinar passcode: 623629

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) researchers Alex de Sherbinin, Carolynne Hultquist, and Cascade Tuholske will highlight their recent work on mapping extreme heat in urban areas, assessing social vulnerability to flooding, and modeling climate-induced population displacement. CIESIN director Robert Chen will be moderator.

Registration available here.