Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Immunological Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 Vaccination in the Pediatric Population

The emergence and rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) from Wuhan, China, has posed a serious health threat on a global scale. Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of individuals, societies, and economies worldwide, leading to global health, socio-economic, and political crises with lasting repercussions. Since the beginning of the pandemic, its global health and social threats have required the scientific community to act quickly, translating evidence into knowledge and knowledge into guidance to inform local and national-level policies and international interventions. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a novel and fascinating opportunity for research. Personally, I embarked on my PhD program with the aim of advancing our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and their families, just six months after the pandemic was declared. Investigating the characteristics of an entirely new virus offered an exciting prospect for a young researcher in the field of pediatric infectious diseases. A fundamental aspect of conducting research focusing on SARS-CoV-2 during an ongoing pandemic lies in the dynamic evolution of the pandemic itself, continually giving rise to emerging scientific inquiries and needs, and redirecting research efforts. The various and unexpected dynamics of the pandemic have been reflected in the evolution of my PhD research project, which continuously expands with new research questions, encompassing acute and long-term clinical (work package 1) and immunological (work package 2) characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, including the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines (work package 2), and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (work package 3). Moreover, given the broader impact of COVID-19 on global health, my PhD projects aimed to also evaluate the pandemic’s effect on other circulating infectious diseases in children (work package 4). The core of my PhD findings that you will find in this current publication-based doctoral thesis is the result of an integrated effort pursued at the Department for Women’s and Children’s Health of the University Hospital of Padova and the Centre for Global Child Health of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The research conducted during the PhD project yielded significant findings, thereby advancing our understanding of this intricate and still largely unexplored field. The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 has changed our lives and our approach to infectious diseases. There are invaluable lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, it has profoundly shaken the world, setting off waves of change, and massively accelerating research. This transformation has unveiled a wide array of potential future trajectories that I am eager to explore.