News

A message from Associate Professor Janine Trevillyan, VC2 Project Principal Investigator

You may have noticed a small change in our logo and name. We’re no longer the Victorian COVID-19 Vaccinees Collection, but the Victorian Critical Vaccinees Collection. It’s a small but important change that allows us to expand the important work we’re doing.

When the project started no one could have predicted that just over a year into the COVID-19 vaccination effort we would need to tackle another new virus with another new vaccine, but here we are! The monkeypox virus, a relative of smallpox, is starting to be detected in Australia and a new vaccine (Jynneos) targeted against it is now being offered to those at risk from the infection. Just as when the COVID-19 vaccines were being rolled out it is critically important that we are able to study the impacts this new vaccine has on people’s immune system. We are expanding the study so that people who are being vaccinated for either COVID-19 or monkeypox can contribute samples into the biobank.

This change won’t affect your involvement in the study in any way. It only means that some people who are also contributing to the project will have had a monkeypox vaccine instead of a COVID-19 vaccine. If you have any questions or worries about this change then please feel free to contact me and I would be very happy to discuss them with you.

I also want to take this opportunity to say a very heart-felt thank you for being part of the VC2 study. Your samples are already providing a valuable resource for Victorian researchers to answer crucial questions about how these new vaccines are working. We couldn’t do it without you!