The scientific community reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic with unprecedented speed and cooperation. Grounded in experience with global health threats such as HIV as well as the impact of infectious diseases on cancer patients, Fred Hutch Cancer Center researchers played an important part in the international scientific response to the pandemic. They’ve worked tirelessly — tracking and modeling the virus' spread, detailing the immune response to the virus, conducting trials of vaccines and treatments, and working to prevent future outbreaks.
Fred Hutch Expertise During COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 Research
Our virologists, as well as many of our cancer and basic science researchers, were deeply involved in a wide range of pandemic-related studies throughout the early to mid-2020s. At one point, as many as 20% of Fred Hutch researchers had active projects focused on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.
Along with research to conceive of, develop and test COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, Fred Hutch:
- Provided guidance for cancer patients and their families about protecting their health during the pandemic
- Monitored and responded to the effects of the pandemic on access to routine cancer screenings, such as colonoscopies
- Tracked how COVID-19 affected cancer patients, including their cancer care, treatment outcomes and access to cancer clinical trials as the pandemic unfolded
- Developed guidelines to help physicians diagnose and manage COVID-19 in people who are getting or have had a blood or marrow transplant or cellular therapy
- Studied how the pandemic affected medically underserved communities
- Worked to understand what causes long COVID-19, who is at risk and how to treat it
Looking Ahead
As COVID-19 has transformed from a fast-growing pandemic to a more stable, endemic disease, Fred Hutch remains at the forefront of efforts to track and understand it, protect communities from infection and learn lessons to keep us all safer when the next new pandemic emerges.
Fred Hutch researchers have invented new tools to analyze the enormous dataset of genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and its many variants , and we’re involved in research on next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, identifying ways to confirm if vaccines taken as a pill or nasal spray will be effective.
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