In-host modelling of SARS-CoV-2 can shed light on individual characteristics that allow for mild, moderate, or severe infection. The models can also provide important estimates of the efficacy and longevity of immunity that is gained post-infection or post-vaccination (and consecutive boosters). We have fit mathematical models of infection and vaccination to viral and immunological data of SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. In this talk, we will discuss key results related to infection severity and immunity protection.

Bio: Dr. Jane Heffernan is an expert on immunity and leads the Modelling Infection and Immunity lab (MI2), and is the Co-Director of the Centre for Disease Modelling (CDM). She is York University Research Chair in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. The MI2 lab develops quantitative methods for evidence-based health policy, from within a host (immunology) to a population of hosts (epidemiology), including decision-making processes at government and individual levels. Dr. Heffernan is involved in international immunization and public health research networks, and serves on the international Society for Mathematical Biology board of directors. She has organized workshops, summer schools and mentoring programs, and has developed an undergraduate program in Mathematical Biology.

Bio: James Watmough obtained his PhD in Mathematics with the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the University of British Columbia and is now a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New Brunswick. He has been a member of the Canadian Centre for Disease Modelling http://www.cdm.yorku.ca/) since its inception and more recently, a member of the Canadian COVID-19 Math Modelling Task Force (http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/activities/Mathematical-Modelling-COVID-19). His research interests include mathematical modelling of ecological systems with a focus on the role of heterogeneity in the spread of infectious diseases, biological invasions, and more recently our immune response to coronavirus infections